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BREAKERS! 

METHODISM   ADRIFT 

Vwm  him 

Rev.  L.  W.  UtoNHALL,  M.A.,  D.D. 


"Awake  thou  that  sleep  est,  and  arise  from  the  dead,  and 
Christ  shall  give  thee  light." — Eph.  v:  14. 


New  Yohk 
CHARLES   C.   COOK 

150  Nassau  Street 


Copyright,  1913 
By  Charles  C.  Cook 


Dedication 

This  volume  is  dedicated  to  the  memory  of 
Bishops  Willard  F.  Mallalieu,  James  N. 
Fitz  Gerald,  Isaac  W.  Joyce  and  Charles  C. 
McCabe,  my  personal  and  devoted  friends. 

With  unquestioning  faith  they  believed  the 
Bible  to  be  the  veritable  Word  of  the  living 
God.  They  were  unswervingly  loyal  to  the 
doctrines  and  usages  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church.  In  a  conspicuously  faithful 
manner  they  administered  the  office  to  which 
the  Church  had  called  them ;  and  were  most 
noble  and  praiseworthy  examples  for  their 
successors  for  all  coming  time. 


CONTENTS 


A  Personal  Foreword 
Introduction 


page 

7 

12 


I.  The  Genesis  of  Methodism            .          .          .          15 

II.  Present  Day  Methodism      ....          36 

III.  Our  Educational  Institutions      ...         47 

IV.  Our  Schools  of  Theology    ....          66 
V.  Sunday  School  Literature            .          .          .          88 

VI.  Sunday  School  Literature  (Continued)        .        100 

VII.  The  Book  Concern       .          .          .          .          .112 

VIII.      Evangelism 129 

IX.  The  Episcopacy             .          .          .          .          .142 

X.  Ecclesiastical  Politics          .          .          .          .        150 

XL  Amusements         .          .          .          .          .          .166 

XII.     Rich  Men 179 

XIII.  Summary    .  .  .  .  .  .  .193 

XIV.  The  Outlook 203 

XV-  The  Need  of  the  Hour         ....        209 


A  PERSONAL  FOREWORD 

Most  of  my  folks  were  Methodists  from  the 
beginning  of  the  movement  in  this  country.  I  have 
been  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
for  more  than  fifty  years.  I  have  held  numerous  of- 
ficial positions — class  leader,  steward,  and  Sunday 
school  superintendent;  and  have  represented  the 
Philadelphia  Annual  Conference  in  the  last  three 
General  Conferences,  i.  e.  1904,  1908,  1912.  My 
name  appears  in  the  "Official  Journal  and  Year 
Book  of  the  Philadelphia  Conference"  as  an  or- 
dained local  preacher;  and  my  membership  is  with 
Gethsemane  Church,  Philadelphia.  I  have  given 
many  thousands  of  dollars  into  the  treasuries  of 
the  Church,  and  very  much  time  and  energy  to 
promote  its  many  interests.  More  than  fifty  thou- 
sand members  have  been  added  to  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  from  meetings  I  have  personally 
conducted  during  the  forty  years  I  have  been  doing 
the  work  of  an  Evangelist.  I  am,  and  have  always 
been  loyal  to  the  doctrines,  polity  and  mission  of 
the  Church.  It  must  be,  therefore,  that  I  love  my 
Church,  and  I  surely  do.  Consequently,  when  I 
take  notice  of  the  secular,  unmethodistic  and  revo- 
lutionary influences  at  work  in  the  Church,  and 
conspicuously  dominant,  I  must  offer  my  protest 
and  sound  an  alarm.  By  reason  of  my  ordination 
vows  to  "With  all  faithful  diligence  banish  and 
drive  away  all  erroneous  and  strange  doctrines 

7 


8         BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

contrary  to  God's  Word/'  I  am  under  solemn  obli- 
gation to  do  this;  all  of  which  is  made  the  more 
obligatory  by  the  command  of  God  to  "Earnestly 
contend  for  the  faith  once  for  all  delivered  unto 
the  saints."  Jude  3.  "To  reprove  them  sharply 
that  they  may  be  sound  in  the  faith."  Titus  i :  13 ; 
and  "Reprove,  rebuke,  exhort,  with  all  long  suf- 
fering, and  teaching.  For  the  time  will  come  when 
they  will  not  endure  the  sound  doctrine ;  but  after 
their  own  lusts  shall  they  heap  to  themselves 
teachers,  having  itching  ears ;  and  they  shall  turn 
away  their  ears  from  the  truth,  and  shall  be  turned 
unto  fables.  ...  Do  the  work  of  an  evangelist." 
2  Tim.  iv:  1-5. 

The  great  body  of  our  ministers  and  majority 
of  our  members  believe  the  Bible  is  the  Word  of 
God,  and  are  loyal  to  our  doctrines  and  polity. 
According  to  the  constitution  of  the  Church  these 
doctrines  cannot,  under  any  circumstances,  be 
changed.  But  a  coterie  of  men,  mostly  in  our 
educational  institutions  and  among  General  Con- 
ference officials,  have  formulated  and  are  promul- 
gating a  propaganda  that  denies  the  integrity,  in- 
fallibility and  authority  of  the  Bible,  and  thereby 
nullifies  the  doctrines  of  the  Church — doing  what 
the  constitution  imperatively  forbids.  Our  Church 
periodicals  are,  with  two,  and  possibly  three  ex- 
ceptions, edited  by  men  in  sympathy  with  this 
propaganda;  and,  though  we  claim,  as  a  Church, 
to  be  a  very  democratic  ecclesiastical  body,  it  is 
entirely  impossible  to  bring  to  the  attention  of 
the  Church  at  large  the  radical  and  revolutionary 


A  PERSONAL  FOREWORD  9 

character  of  this  propaganda.  Therefore,  if  any 
one,  in  his  love  for  and  loyalty  to  the  Church, 
desires  to  arouse  the  Church  to  the  impending 
peril,  he  is  compelled  to  issue  pamphlets  and 
books,  upon  his  own  responsibility  and  at  his  per- 
sonal expense,  though  occasionally  he  may  have 
an  opportunity  to  sound  the  alarm  in  a  public 
assembly. 

It  is  urged  by  those  in  sympathy  with  this  prop- 
aganda that  I  have  no  right  to  do  this.  They 
say:  "If  a  minister  is  promulgating  heresies 
he  should  be  proceeded  against  formally  in  his 
Annual  Conference."  This  is  begging  the  ques- 
tion so  far  as  General  Conference  officials  are 
concerned.  To  illustrate :  When  memorials  from 
five  Annual  Conferences,  i.  e.  Philadelphia,  Wil- 
mington, New  Jersey,  Southern  California  and 
Michigan,  and,  the  Pittsburgh  Lay  Electoral,  pro- 
testing against  the  unmethodistic,  erroneous  and 
destructive  teaching  in  our  Sunday-school  litera- 
ture were  presented  to  the  last  General  Confer- 
ence, Dr.  McFarland  and  his  friends  deliberately 
tried  to  obscure  the  real  issue  by  charging  that 
these  memorials  and  criticisms  were  personal  at- 
tacks upon  his  character  as  a  man  and  minister, 
and  the  General  Conference  had  nothing  whatever 
to  do  with  such  a  matter,  excepting  on  an  appeal, 
as  a  minister's  character  is  determined  by  his 
Annual  Conference ;  and,  therefore,  if  any  charges 
were  to  be  brought  against  him,  they  must  be 
brought  before  the  Kansas  Conference,  of  which 
he  is  a  member.    The  Memorials  said  never  a  word 


10        BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

about  Dr.  McFarland's  character;  but  they  pro- 
tested against  the  character  of  his  work,  and 
prayed  for  an  investigation  of  it,  and  for  a  change. 
Dr.  McFarland  was  elected  editor  of  the  Sunday 
School  literature  of  the  Church,  by  the  General 
Conference,  and  is  responsible  to  it,  and  not 
his  Annual  Conference,  for  the  manner  in  which 
he  administers  his  office. 

The  General  Conference  is  composed  of  dele- 
gates from  the  Annual  and  Lay  electoral  confer- 
ences. Those  who  elect  these  delegates  should 
know  of  the  condition  and  needs  of  the  Church, 
in  order  that  they  may  select  fit  men  and  women 
to  act  in  harmony  with  the  constitution,  doctrines, 
polity  and  mission  of  the  Church,  in  its  only  law- 
making body.  This  I  am  seeking  faithfully  and 
prayerfully  to  do.  Not  only  have  I  a  right  to  do 
so,  but  it  is  my  bounden  duty  to  do  so.  Some  who 
deny  me  this  right  are  writing  and  publishing 
books  and  pamphlets  containing  unmethodistic 
and  infidel  teachings,  and  defences  of  their  un- 
faithfulness, and  compelling  the  Church  to  pay  the 
bills;  and  I  have  heard  no  protests  from  the  ad- 
vocates and  friends  of  the  propaganda. 

My  self-imposed  task  is  an  unpleasant  one.  I 
shall  be  misunderstood,  misrepresented  and  per- 
secuted, even  as  I  have  been  because  I  have  dared 
to  oppose  false  teaching  in  the  Church ;  but  I  will 
fare  better  than  the  Master,  who  said:  "If  they 
have  persecuted  Me,  they  will  also  persecute  you," 
and  "Blessed  are  ye,  when  men  shall  revile  you. 
and  persecute  you,  and  shall  say  all  manner  of  evil 


A  PERSONAL  FOREWORD  11 

against  yon  falsely,  for  my  sake."  I  am  not  "Seek- 
ing my  own,"  nor  " Honors  of  men."  "For  if  I 
yet  pleased  men,  I  should  not  be  the  servant  of 
Christ,"  bnt  am  trying  faithfully  to  honor  Him, 
before  Whom  I  must  soon  stand  to  give  an  account 
of  myself  and  stewardship.  I  would  be  false  to 
most  solemn  ordination  vows  and  recreant  to  obli- 
gations as  weighty  as  eternity  if  I  should  hesitate 
or  turn  back  from  my  purpose. 

I  subscribe  most  heartily  to  these  pertinent 
words  of  a  man  who  never  sounded  a  false  note, 
and  while  living  was  reviled  and  denounced  by 
many  ministers  for  his  faithful  testimony  against 
false  teachers  in  the  Church,  the  late  Charles  Had- 
don  Spurgeon.  "We  have  to  guard  with  jealous 
care  'the  faith  once  for  all  delivered  unto  the 
saints. '  When  you  find,  as  you  do  now,  professing 
Christians  and  professing  Christian  ministers 
denying  every  article  of  the  faith,  or  putting  an- 
other meaning  upon  the  words  than  they  must 
have  been  understood  to  mean,  and  preaching  lies 
in  the  name  of  the  Most  High,  it  is  time  that  some- 
body set  a  watch  against  them.  A  night  watch- 
man's place  is  not  an  easy  berth,  but  I  am  willing 
to  take  the  place  for  my  blessed  Master's  sake. 
These  professing  servants  of  Christ  who  enter  into 
an  unholy  alliance  with  men  who  deny  the  faith, 
will  have  to  answer  for  it  at  the  last  great  day. 
As  for  us,  brethren,  when  our  Lord  comes,  let  Him 
find  us  watching  as  well  as  praying." 

L.  W.  Munhall. 


INTRODUCTION 

A  few  years  ago  Dr.  Buckley  sent  out  numerous 
letters  into  all  parts  of  the  Church  inquiring  as 
to  the  reasons  for  the  great  spiritual  dearth 
throughout  Methodism.  He  published  many  re- 
plies; they  made  interesting  reading.  Short- 
ly afterwards  I  met  the  Doctor  and  he  asked  me 
what  I  thought  of  the  replies  to  his  question.  I 
said:  ''They  all  contained  some  truth,  but  none 
gave  the  one,  all  inclusive  answer."  He  asked, 
"What  is  it?"  I  said,  "The  dishonor  that  many 
Methodists  have  put  upon  God's  Holy  Word  in 
their  criticisms  of  it,  by  which  its  integrity  has 
been  denied  and  its  authority  challenged,  and  the 
Church  has  tacitly  indorsed  the  same;  and  the 
Holy  Spirit  has  been  grieved  thereby,  and  with- 
drawn Himself  from  us.  The  sin  of  one  man, 
Achan,  brought  defeat  to  Israel,  and  not  until  the 
sin  was  put  away  was  there  victory  for  them.  And 
until  this  sin  of  criticising  the  Bible,  that  we  as 
Methodists  have  tolerated  and  condoned,  is  put 
away  there  will  be  defeat  for  us,  for  it  is  "not 
by  might,  nor  by  power,  but  by  my  spirit,  saith 
the  Lord  of  Hosts."  The  Doctor  said,  "I  think 
you  are  right."  I  then  said,  "Well,  why  do  you 
not  say  so  in  the  Advocate,  where  it  will  do  some 
good."  He  replied :  "I  am  thinking  of  doing  so." 
But  he  never  did,  for  the  simple  reason  that  he 
would  have  condemned  himself  had  he  done  so. 

12 


INTEODUCTION  13 

The  leaders  in  our  leading,  so-called  "Metho- 
dist" educational  institutions,  believing  that  Meth- 
odist doctrines  and  usages  are  behind  the  times, 
and  they  themselves  being  in  sympathy  with  the 
rationalism  of  the  German  universities,  and  out 
of  touch  with  spiritual  things,  deliberately  decided 
upon  a  change.  Prof.  H.  G.  Mitchell,  who  by  a 
unanimous  vote  of  the  Bishops  was  ousted  from 
the  faculty  of  The  School  of  Theology,  Boston 
University,  and  is  now,  so  I  have  been  informed, 
teaching  in  a  Universalist  school,  where  he  proper- 
ly belongs,  twelve  or  fifteen  years  ago  boasted 
that  he  would  revolutionize  Methodist  theology. 
Though  he  is  no  more  of  us,  his  work  among  us 
is  still  felt,  and  his  prediction  may  come  to  pass. 
In  fact,  what  he  taught,  and  for  which  he  was 
officially  condemned,  is  now  being  openly  taught 
in  nearly  all  the  schools  of  the  Church,  and  very 
much  worse  things  in  some  of  them;  and  there  is 
conspicuously  concerted  action  among  them  in 
pushing  their  anti-biblical  and  unmethodistic 
teaching. 

Our  Sunday-school  publications  are  edited  in 
harmony  with  this  anarchistic  propaganda,  as  are 
most  of  the  Church  periodicals;  while  our  book 
concern  has  published  numerous  books  in  line  with 
this  movement.  Since  the  death  of  Bishops  Fitz- 
gerald, Joyce,  Fowler,  McCabe,  Spellmeyer  and 
Mallalieu,  it  appears  as  though  a  majority  of  the 
Board  of  Bishops  is  in  sympathy  with  this 
wretched  business,  as  I  certainly  know  some  of 
them  to  be.    Besides,  an  increasingly  large  num- 


14        BEEAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

ber  of  our  wealthiest  churches  have  pastors  of 
the  same  mind.  These  things  indicate  plan  and 
purpose,  and  are  strikingly  significant. 

Some  of  the  brethren  in  this  offending,  doubt- 
less, like  Saul  of  Tarsus,  think  they  are  doing  God 
service ;  but  when  Saul 's  eyes  were  opened  he  saw 
clearly  that  the  thing  he  thought  to  be  right  made 
him  the  chief  of  sinners.  Pride  of  intellect  and 
heart  is  responsible  for  it  all.  God  is  dishonored, 
and  the  Holy  Spirit,  being  grieved,  has  left  us; 
and  being  without  Him  we  are  leaning  upon  the 
arm  of  flesh,  toadying  to  the  rich,  building  fine 
churches,  depending  upon  ritualism,  intellectual- 
ism,  shows,  music,  and  worldly  influence  and 
power.  Meanwhile  our  pews  are  empty,  our  altars 
deserted,  and  the  multitudes  perishing  in  their 
sins.  I  hope  through  this  volume  to  arouse  the 
Church  to  the  situation  and  its  need,  that  it  may 
repent  before  God  shall  remove  her  candlestick 
from  its  place,  and  spew  her  out  of  His  mouth. 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  GENESIS  OF  METHODISM 

LIKE  Pentecost  and  the  Reformation,  the  rise 
of  Methodism  marks  a  distinct  epoch  in  the 
history  of  the  Christian  Church.  The  conditions 
existing,  and  circumstances  leading  up  to  these 
epochs,  are  in  many  things  strikingly  analogous. 
At  the  time  of  the  advent  of  our  Saviour,  God's 
ancient  people  were  as  sheep  under  the  care  of 
false  shepherds;  "For  the  teraphim  have  spoken 
vanity,  and  the  diviners  have  seen  a  lie ;  and  they 
have  told  false  dreams,  they  comfort  in  vain; 
therefore  they  go  their  way  like  sheep,  they  are 
afflicted,  because  there  is  no  shepherd."  Zech. 
x:  2.  "Thus  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts,  Hearken  not 
unto  the  words  of  the  prophets  that  prophesy  unto 
you;  they  teach  you  vanity:  they  speak  a  vision 
of  their  own  heart,  and  not  out  of  the  mouth  of 
the  Lord.  (Higher  criticism.)  They  say  continu- 
ally unto  them  that  despise  me,  The  Lord  hath 
said,  Ye  shall  have  peace ;  and  unto  every  one  that 
walketh  in  the  stubbornness  of  his  own  heart  they 
say,  No  evil  shall  come  upon  you.  (They  did  away 
with  future  punishment.  No  hell.)  For  who  hath 
stood  in  the  council  of  the  Lord,  that  he  should 
perceive  and  hear  his  word  (denial  of  verbal  in- 
spiration)? Who  hath  marked  his  word,  and 
heard  it?  .    .    .1  sent  not  these  prophets,  yet  they 

15 


16        BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

ran:  I  spake  not  unto  them,  yet  they  prophesied. 
But  if  they  had  stood  in  my  council,  then  had  they 
caused  my  people  to  hear  my  words,  and  had 
turned  them  from  their  evil  way,  and  from  the 
evil  of  their  doings."  Jer.  xxiii:  16-22.  Two 
things  followed,  inevitably,  viz.:  First — When 
Jesus  began  His  public  ministry  the  Pharisees 
and  Scribes  had,  in  a  large  degree,  "Made  void 
the  Word  of  God  because  of  your  (their)  tra- 
dition. ' '  Matt,  xv :  6.  He  said  to  the  Jews — ' '  For 
if  ye  believed  Moses,  ye  would  believe  me ;  for  he 
wrote  of  me.  But  if  ye  believe  not  his  writings, 
how  shall  ye  believe  my  words  ? ' '  John  v  :  46,  47. 
"And  ye  have  not  His  (the  Father's)  Word  abid- 
ing in  you :  for  Whom  He  sent,  Him  ye  believe  not. ' ' 
John  v :  38.  "  He  came  unto  His  own,  and  His 
own  received  Him  not."  John  i:  11;  and  Second 
— The  unspiritual  state  of  the  chosen  people  as 
indicated  by  not  only  their  degraded  and  sinful 
condition,  but  also  by  the  iniquities  and  hypocri- 
sies of  their  leaders,  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees 
(see  Matt.  25  chap.),  who,  because  of  their  zeal 
in  promulgating  their  false  teachings  led  the 
Saviour  to  say  of  them,  "Woe  unto  you,  Scribes, 
Pharisees,  hypocrites!  for  ye  compass  sea  and 
land  to  make  one  proselyte;  and  when  he  is  be- 
come so,  ye  make  him  two-fold  more  a  son  of  hell 
than  yourselves." 

What  was  the  supreme  need  of  the  time?  A 
faithful  proclamation  of  the  Word  of  God;  even 
the  Old  Testament  Scriptures ;  the  very  same  Old 
Testament  that  we  have  to-day.    In  the  record  we 


THE  GENESIS  OF  METHODISM        17 

have  of  His  sayings,  we  find  He  quoted  from  the 
Old  Testament  more  than  one  hundred  times. 
These  quotations  were  from  twenty-one  different 
books.  He  always  did  it  reverently.  He  never 
criticised  them.  With  Him  they  were  of  equal 
and  final  authority.  ''And  beginning  from  Moses 
and  from  all  the  prophets,  he  interpreted  to  them 
in  all  the  Scriptures  the  things  concerning  him- 
self." Luke  24:27.  He  said,  "As  my  Father 
hath  taught  me,  I  speak  these  things."  "He  gave 
me  commandment  what  I  should  say,  and  what 
I  should  speak. "  "  Whatsoever  I  speak  therefore, 
even  as  the  Father  said  unto  me  so  I  speak." 
"I  have  given  unto  them  the  words  which  Thou 
gavest  me. "  ' '  The  words  that  I  have  spoken  unto 
you  are  spirit,  and  are  life. "  What  wonder,  there- 
fore, that  "They  were  astonished  at  His  teach- 
ing :  for  He  taught  them  as  having  authority,  and 
not  as  the  Scribes." 

Along  with  this  He  denounced  the  false  teachers 
in  burning,  withering  terms.  He  called  them 
"Fools,"  "Liars,"  "Blind  Guides,"  "Hypo- 
crites," "Murderers,"  "Serpents,"  "Generation 
of  Vipers, ' '  etc. ;  and  warned  the  people  against 
them  and  their  unscriptural,  soul-destroying  teach- 
ing. For  all  of  which  the  Rulers  resorted  to  every 
possible  disreputable  means  to  entrap  Him  in  His 
words  and  acts,  in  order  to  find  accusation  against 
Him;  and  they  persecuted  Him  to  the  death. 

Before  He  ascended  into  heaven  "He  breathed 
on"  His  disciples  "and  saith  unto  them,  Receive 
ye  the  Holy  Ghost. ' '   He  had  previously  instructed 


18        BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

them  as  to  their  ministry  and  work;  all  of  which 
was  enforced  by  His  example.  He  told  them,  ■ '  The 
disciple  is  not  above  His  Master,  nor  the  servant 
above  his  Lord. ' '  They  were  exhorted  to  be  brave 
and  true;  and  though  they  would  suffer  persecu- 
tions and  death,  the  Holy  Spirit  would  be  their 
all-sufficient  and  unfailing  Helper;  and,  if  faithful, 
they  would  be  glorified  together  with  Him  in  the 
Kingdom. 

After  the  Master  "Was  carried  up  into  Heav- 
en," the  disciples  "Returned  to  Jerusalem,"  and 
there  tarried,  as  He  had  commanded,  until  they 
were  "Clothed  with  power  from  on  High;"  after 
which  Peter  stood  up  as  the  spokesman  and 
preached  a  sermon  which,  as  reported,  homileti- 
cally  considered,  was  very  commonplace,  accord- 
ing to  our  present  day  notions  of  a  sermon.  More 
than  one  half  of  the  discourse  was  quotations  from 
the  Old  Testament.  We  are  told, ' '  And  with  many 
other  words  he  testified  and  exhorted  them ; ' '  but 
we  are  in  ignorance  as  to  what  they  were:  the 
only  thing  in  the  sermon  of  sufficient  importance 
to  preserve  was  the  use  he  made  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment Scriptures.  But  it  did  the  work.  God's 
Word  always  will  when  the  conditions  are  met. 
"For  it  is  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation  to 
every  one  that  believeth ; ' '  and ' '  It  shall  not  return 
unto  me  void,  "God  Himself  declares  "About  3,000 
souls"  were  converted  as  the  immediate  result  of 
this  one  discourse.  The  next  day  about  5,000  men 
were  converted  as  a  result  of  some  more  preach- 
ing of  the  Old  Testament,  together  with  rebukes 


THE  GENESIS  OF  METHODISM        19 

of  their  sins  and  unbelief.  These  two  things  were 
conspicuously  characteristic  of  the  preaching  of 
those  times.  Stephen's  sermon  was  almost  wholly 
made  up  of  Old  Testament  exposition  and  rebuke. 
Hear  Him,  "Ye  stiffnecked  and  uncircumcised  in 
heart  and  ears.  Ye  do  always  resist  the  Holy 
Ghost:  as  your  fathers  did,  so  do  ye.  Which  of 
the  prophets  did  not  your  fathers  persecute  I  And 
they  killed  them  which  showed  before  the  coming 
of  the  Kighteous  One ;  of  whom  ye  have  now  be- 
come betrayers  and  murderers;  ye  who  received 
the  law  as  it  was  ordained  by  angels  and  kept  it 
not. "  Asa  result  of  this  discourse  ' '  They  gnashed 
on  him  with  their  teeth"  and  killed  him.  It  is 
probable  that  this  sermon  was  blessed  of  God  to 
Paul's  conversion.  If  this  is  true,  who  will  say 
that  Peter's  first  sermon  accomplished  greater 
ultimate  good  than  Stephen's? 

Paul's  preaching  and  teaching  were  along  the 
same  line — only  he  gave  more  attention  to  the 
false  teachers.  He  was  the  greatest  "Heresy 
hunter"  the  Church  has  ever  known;  and  was 
pointedly  personal  and  unsparing  in  his  treat- 
ment of  the  false  teachers.  Take  the  case  of  Ely- 
mas  who  sought ' '  To  turn  the  proconsul  from  the 
faith.  But  Saul,  who  is  also  called  Paul,  filled 
with  the  Holy  Ghost,  fastened  his  eyes  on  him, 
and  said,  0  full  of  all  guile  and  all  villainy,  thou 
son  of  the  devil,  thou  enemy  of  all  righteousness, 
wilt  not  thou  cease  to  pervert  the  right  ways  of 
the  Lord?"  Also  note  what  he  said  of  Alexander, 
Demas,  Hymeneus  and  Philetus.  The  loving  John 


20        BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

was  almost  as  severe  in  his  denunciations  of  the 
false  teachers  as  was  the  Master.  "Whosoever  is 
advanced,"  or  goes  ahead  and  takes  the  lead, 
"and  abideth  not  in  the  teaching  of  Christ  hath 
not  God."  "Who  is  a  liar  but  he  that  denieth 
that  Jesus  is  the  Christ."  And  he  warned  be- 
lievers against  them.  So  also  James  and  Jude; 
and  for  that  matter  all  the  leaders  in  the  Apostolic 
Church.  Because  of  such  faithful  preaching  the 
Church  "continued  steadfastly  in  the  Apostles* 
teaching  .  .  .  And  fear  came  upon  every  soul ; ' ■ 
"And  the  Lord  added  to  them  day  by  day  those 
that  were  being  saved;"  "And  the  Word  of  God 
increased;  and  the  number  of  the  disciples  mul- 
tiplied in  Jerusalem  exceedingly ;  and  a  great  com- 
pany of  the  priests  were  obedient  to  the  faith." 
So  long  as  they  continued  to  preach  the  Word 
faithfully,  God  was  with  them  in  power  and  bless- 
ing, and  they  became  a  mighty,  victorious  host. 

THE  REFORMATION 

I  need,  I  think,  in  referring  to  the  Reformation, 
only  to  call  attention  to  the  condition  of  the 
Church  at  the  time,  and  remind  my  readers  of 
God's  ways  in  times  of  distress  and  need.  The 
"Dark  Ages"  were  brought  about  by  false  teach- 
ers, who  substituted  their  own  views  and  words 
for  God's  Word,  even  as  the  prophets  of  old  had 
done,  leading  the  people  to  depart  from  the  living 
God.  The  Church  became  rotten,  morally,  to  the 
core.  The  priests  became  corrupt  and  sensuous; 
and  everywhere  the  few  who  were  loyal  to  God  and 


THE  GENESIS  OF  METHODISM        21 

His  Word  were  subjected  to  the  bitterest  perse- 
cutions ;  and  like  the  Master  and  the  Apostles  were 
hunted  to  the  death.  God,  however,  has  never 
left  the  world  without  witnesses. 

In  the  mountains  of  Savoy  and  Lombardy  the 
Waldenses,  hiding  from  their  enemies  in  dens 
and  caves  amid  the  glaciers,  preserved  the  Word 
of  truth.  Huss,  under  God,  marshalled  a  noble 
band  at  Prague,  while  at  Zurich,  Zwingli,  with  his 
heroic  followers,  did  glorious  battle  for  the  historic 
faith.  Then  Luther,  most  ably  seconded  by  Mel- 
anchthon,  unchained  the  Bible  and  gave  it  to  the 
common  people.  At  Geneva,  Calvin  and  his  co- 
adjutors rallied  a  great  army  to  do  battle  for ' '  The 
faith  once  for  all  delivered  unto  the  Saints;"  and 
in  far-away  Scotland  Knox,  with  invincible  leader- 
ship, gave  himself  undaunted  to  the  same  glorious 
battle.  These  heroic  leaders  were  great  scholars, 
and  with  their  pens  they  exposed  the  fallacies  of 
the  degenerate  and  corrupt  teachers,  and  effec- 
tively refuted  their  erroneous  and  absurd  claims. 
Along  with  it  all  they  denounced  in  most  wither- 
ing and  unsparing  terms  the  hypocricies  and  cor- 
ruptions of  kings  and  priests  alike.  They  also 
preached  the  Word  of  God  with  power,  in  the 
Holy  Ghost  and  with  much  assurance,  and  multi- 
tudes were  saved.  The  red  hand  of  fiendish  perse- 
cution was  laid  upon  them.  But  not  chains  and 
prison  walls,  nor  fire,  nor  death  could  intimidate 
or  deter  them.  God  was  with  them  and  enabled 
them  to  shout  victory  even  amid  the  flames  of 
martyrdom.    Who  with  any  iron  in  his  blood  can 


22        BREAKERS !  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

contemplate  the  history  of  these  men  and  times, 
without  being  thrilled  with  admiration,  and  led, 
if  a  child  of  God,  to  give  thanks  to  the  God  of 
heaven,  for  the  mighty  revival  He  then  sent  to 
the  Church,  and  through  it  to  the  world? 

Within  two  hundred  years,  through  the  corrup- 
tion of  the  Word  of  God  and  false  teaching,  the 
Church  became  unspiritual  and  most  sadly  con- 
formed to  the  world.  Then  arose  the  "Deistical 
controversies";  and  the  Church  being  unfit  and 
unprepared  to  meet  the  issues  raised  thereby,  was 
swept  as  by  a  torrent  from  her  anchorage;  and 
the  floods  of  unbelief  and  immorality  almost  sub- 
merged Protestantism.  In  the  language  of  Prof. 
Howard  Osgood:  "If  we  go  back  two  hundred 
years  to  England  we  shall  find  a  series  of  cham- 
pions against  the  Bible's  being  the  revealed  Word 
of  God  who,  in  the  prestige  of  place,  of  learning, 
of  attractive  style,  of  skill  in  debate,  were  the 
peers  of  any  men  of  any  age  of  the  world.  Blount, 
Toland,  Shaftesbury,  Collins,  Woolston,  Tindal, 
Morgan,  Bolingbroke,  Hume,  to  name  only  a  few, 
stood  abreast  of  the  foremost  men  of  their  day 
in  learning.  Shaftesbury  and  Bolingbroke  were 
masters  of  lofty  and  popular  style  in  English. 
Some  of  the  works  of  these  champions  were  issued 
in  editions  of  twenty  thousand,  and  some  of  their 
works  reached  in  a  few  months  a  twelfth  edition. 
None  of  the  answers  to  these  works  ever  attained 
a  success  at  all  to  be  compared  with  the  popularity 
of  their  opponents.  Cambridge  and  Oxford  were 
the  schools  from  which  most  of  these  men  came. 


THE  GENESIS  OF  METHODISM        23 

The  teaching  in  both  these  great  universities  was 
very  far  from  a  living  faith  in  God  and  His  Word. 
Yea,  even  many  of  the  answers  to  these  anti- 
biblical  writers  contained  concessions  to  the  Deis- 
tical  arguments  that  made  them  weak  against  the 
victorious  tone  of  their  opponents  and  the  deists 
were  not  slow  to  prove  their  arguments  against 
the  Bible  by  the  aggregate  of  these  concessions. 
It  seems  hard  for  men  to  learn  that  a  hungry  lion 
seeking  his  prey  will  not  be  appeased  with  any- 
thing less  than  their  blood  and  flesh  and  bones." 
There  is  nothing  to-day  in  the  ranks  of  anti- 
biblical  writings  to  compare  with  the  popularity 
and  literary  success  of  their  predecessors  in  Eng- 
land one  hundred  and  fifty  to  two  hundred  years 
ago.  Then  the  Established  Church  was  largely 
deistical.  The  Presbyterians  and  Congregation- 
alists  in  England  were  deeply  tinctured  with  ra- 
tionalism or  deism.  The  Baptists  were  only  half 
alive.  The  Methodists  had  not  yet  arisen.  It 
really  seemed  as  if  in  spite  of  and  under  cover 
of  an  orthodox  liturgy  and  orthodox  articles  the 
English  Church  was  fast  becoming  the  home  of 
bold,  undisguised  rationalism.  The  most  popular 
poets,  Prior,  Swift,  and  Pope,  were  deists.  Pope, 
though  a  Roman  Catholic,  in  his  "Essay  on  Man" 
formulates  the  deistical  creed  Bolingbroke  taught 
him.  The  arguments  of  these  able  writers  were 
directed  against  the  general  credibility  of  the  Old 
and  New  Testament  as  tested  by  their  common 
sense;  against  prophecy,  which  they  proved  to 
their  satisfaction  was  myth  and  legend;  against 


24        BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

miracles,  which  they  asserted  could  not  be  proved 
by  any  human  testimony  whatever.  This  is  the 
age  when  enemies  and  defenders  of  the  Bible 
appealed  to  reason  as  the  final  arbiter  of  the 
debate.  If  one  wishes  to  read  all  that  can  be 
said  in  favor  of  reason  as  the  judge  of  revela- 
tion he  must  make  himself  acquainted  with  the 
best  writers  of  this  period,  from  1700  to  1750,  and 
not  rest  in  the  puny  imitations  of  this  day.  The 
rationalism  of  the  eighteenth  century  was  born 
and  nursed,  and  grew  great  in  England  before  it 
went  over  to  conquer  Germany. 

The  plays,  the  novels,  the  biographies,  the  poets, 
the  papers,  the  "Spectator  and  Tattler,"  all  bear 
witness  to  the  popularity  of  antibiblical  opinions, 
to  the  frequent  separation  in  the  clergy  and  mem- 
bers of  the  churches  between  doctrines  and  life, 
between  profession  and  piety,  and  to  the  swollen 
tide  of  immorality  from  the  court  down  to  the 
ale  house.  The  efforts  in  the  pulpit  were  essays 
on  virtue,  patience,  resignation  under  difficulties, 
cold  and  drear,  without  a  note  of  the  ruin  of 
sin  or  the  infinite  love  of  God,  appealing  to  the 
heart  of  man  by  the  free  gift  of  His  Son  to  die 
for  sinners.  Nothing  called  for  louder  denuncia- 
tion, nothing  aroused  and  disturbed  the  rheumatic 
stiffness  of  mere  professional  religion  so  much 
as  a  display  of  zeal." 

Voltaire,  with  more  commanding  influence  than 
any  Emperor  or  King,  went  over  to  England  and 
paid  his  respects  to  Lord  Bolingbroke  and  his 
deistical  associates,  and  gave  the  full  weight  of 


THE  GENESIS  OF  METHODISM        25 

that  influence  to  the  movement  to  discredit  and 
destroy  the  Bible.  Prof.  Osgood  says:  "There  is 
no  literary  success  at  the  present  day  at  all  to 
be  compared  to  his  (Voltaire's).  His  works  were 
published  in  enormous  editions  in  France,  and 
were  immediately  translated  and  sold  by  every 
bookseller  in  Europe  and  Russia.  Of  the  literary 
world  of  Europe  he  was  the  crowned  king.  Roman 
Catholics  and  Protestants,  yea,  Presbyterian 
ministers  of  Geneva,  and  German  Protestants 
paid  abject  court  to  him  and  professed  themselves 
at  one  with  him  in  his  creed,  which  was  deism 
pure  and  simple,  as  he  often  says.  His  was  the 
spirit  of  all  the  popular  writers  of  the  eighteenth 
century  in  France.  Taine  has  drawn  a  true  pic- 
ture of  the  godlessness  and  the  immorality  of  that 
age.  A  few  years  after  Voltaire  was  crowned  on 
the  stage  in  Paris  by  king  and  priests  and  people, 
the  king  was  dethroned  and  murdered ;  the  guillo- 
tine was  at  work  day  and  night  to  fill  the  streets 
with  human  blood ;  priests  and  people  proclaimed 
the  Christian  religion  and  churches  forever  re- 
nounced, and  reason  and  nature  the  only  objects 
of  rational  worship. 

"In  1740  there  arose  on  the  throne  of  Prussia 
the  overshadowing  incarnation  of  the  cold,  clear, 
cynical,  victorious  spirit  of  the  century,  who  knew 
no  God,  who  cared  for  no  religion,  whose  scepter 
was  the  sword,  whose  friends  were  the  deists  and 
the  drill  sergeant — Frederick  the  Great.  His  con- 
quests in  war,  his  firm,  wise  rule  in  peace,  his 
destruction  at  one  blow  of  all  the  old  tests  of  ortho- 


26        BEEAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

doxy,  his  unceasing  effort  to  plant  agnosticism  in 
every  school  and  university,  were  the  powerful 
allies  of  the  teachings  of  the  English  writers,  and 
soon  in  Germany  in  every  university,  in  number- 
less pulpits,  and  from  the  most  popular  presses, 
the  English  arguments  against  the  Bible  were 
adorned  with  the  treasures  of  German  learning, 
and  in  the  leading  literary  circles  no  man  was 
tolerated  who  believed  the  Bible  was  anything 
more  than  a  purely  human  book  of  legends  and 
myths  interspersed  with  some  good  moral  pre- 
cepts. ' ' 

Frederick  the  Great  was  a  diligent  pupil  and 
devoted  friend  of  Voltaire.  In  order  that  any 
of  my  readers  who  may  not  know  just  what  Vol- 
taire believed  and  taught  concerning  the  Bible, 
I  here  give  a  few  of  his  sayings  about  the  Penta- 
teuch. "It  is  said  even  in  their  books,  that  this 
Pentateuch  was  not  known  until  the  reign  of  their 
king,  Josiah,  thirty-six  years  before  the  destruc- 
tion of  Jerusalem,  and  then  they  only  possessed 
a  single  copy,  which  the  priest  Hilkiah  found  at 
the  bottom  of  a  strong  box  while  counting  money. 
The  book  found  under  Josiah  was  unknown  until 
the  return  from  the  Babylonian  captivity."  (Phil. 
Dictionary,  Art.  "Moses,"  1762.) 

"Almost  all  men  well  acquainted  with  antiquity 
agree  that  this  book  (the  Pentateuch)  was  not 
issued  among  the  Jews  until  the  time  of 
Ezra.  .  .  .  The  greatest  proof  to  some  learned 
men  that  Ezra  edited  all  the  Jewish  books  is  that 


THE  GENESIS  OF  METHODISM        27 

they  appear  to  be  in  the  same  style."  (God  and 
Man,  1769,  chap.  19.) 

"Those  best  acquainted  with  antiquity  think 
that  these  books  were  written  more  than  seven 
hundred  years  after  Moses."    (Dialogue  16.) 

"It  has  been  supposed  that  the  whole  Penta- 
teuch was  written  by  some  Levites  eight  hundred 
and  twenty-seven  years  after  Moses  (according 
to  the  Vulgate),  in  the  time  of  Josiah."  (Bible 
Explained,  1777,  "Deut.") 

"The  Pentateuch  could  not  be  from  Moses." 
(Ex.  of  Lord  Bolingbroke.) 

"I  am  asked  who  is  the  author  of  the  Penta- 
teuch? One  may  as  well  ask  me  who  wrote  the 
Four  Sons  of  Aymon,  Eobert  the  Devil,  or  the  His- 
tory of  the  Enchanter,  Merlin."  (Important  Ex- 
amination, 1767,  chap.  4.) 

"Is  it  not  plain  that  Genesis  was  taken  from 
the  ancient  fables  of  their  (the  Jews)  neighbors?" 
"The  Fable  of  Moses,"  "The  Fable  of  the  Penta- 
teuch."   (Ex.  of  Lord  Bolingbroke.) 

"Their  chronology  is  always  erroneous,"  "The 
innumerable  mistakes  of  geography,  of  chron- 
ology, and  the  contradictions  found  in  the  Penta- 
teuch."   (Ex.  of  Lord  Bolingbroke.) 

All  this  is  very  much  like  so-called  "Modern 
(sic)  Biblical,  or  Higher  Criticism,"  that  not  a 
few  "Eeverent"  and  devout  gentlemen  call  "The 
assured  results  of  up-to-date  scholarship.  All  we 
have  of  the  higher  criticism  to-day,  and  which 
has  found  a  haven  in  the  Methodist  and  other  de- 
nominations, is  just  what  was  in  the  Anglican 


28        BREAKERS !  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

Church,  her  universities,  colleges  and  cathedrals 
in  the  eighteenth  century,  and  gave  to  that  age 
the  character  of  being  the  corruptest  in  morals, 
the  most  infidel  in  doctrine  and  most  spiritually 
dead,  in  the  annals  of  English  Christianity.  For 
a  vivid  picture  of  the  times  any  one  has  only  to 
spend  a  day  or  two  in  some  respectable  library 
and  consult  the  volumes  of  "  George  Selwin  and 
Contemporaries,"  "Fielding  and  Smollett"  and 
"The  Life  and  Times  of  John  Wesley"  by  Tyer- 
man.  The  very  criticism  that  cursed  the  Church 
then,  curses  it  to-day,  and  makes  deists  and  in- 
fidels as  it  made  them  then.  Wesley  was  born 
in  1703,  and  entered  Oxford  when  17  years  of  age. 
In  1726,  when  Wesley  was  ordained,  Voltaire  came 
from  France  to  London  and  was  welcomed  by  Lord 
Bolingbroke,  Gibbon,  Chesterfield,  Tom  Paine,  and 
all  the  infidels  of  the  day.  It  was  a  time  of  wealth, 
luxury  and  splendor  in  Church  and  State,  and  the 
Anti-Biblical  criticism  ruled  in  England  as  it  did 
in  Germany  and  France.  In  the  words  of  Rev. 
Richard  Cecil.  "The  Anglican  Church  sent  more 
souls  to  hell  than  she  did  to  heaven."  "England," 
says  another,  "was  a  carnival  of  natural  unbelief, 
corruption  and  lust,  a  nation  cursed  with  a  denial 
of  God's  Word,  and  made  no  effort  to  save  the 
people.  The  Church  was  passing  to  Rome  with 
rapid  steps.  Oxford  and  Cambridge  were  breed- 
ers of  infidels.  Tyerman  describes  the  Methodist 
movement,  as  have  others,  as  "a  protest  against 
the  vices  of  society — a  cry  for  purity  and  reform 
in  the  midst  of  ambition  in  the  Church,  wealth, 


THE  GENESIS  OF  METHODISM        29 

spiritual  death,  unbelief  and  godlessness" — "a 
protest  against  the  rationalism,  deism  and  scep- 
ticism entrenched  in  the  English  universities, 
cathedrals  and  churches.  Never  was  a  century 
so  void  of  faith  as  that  which  opened  with  Queen 
Ann  and  reached  its  misty  noon  beneath  the  sec- 
ond George — a  dewless  night  succeeding,  followed 
by  a  sunless  dawn.  The  Puritans  were  buried; 
the  Methodists  were  not  yet  born."  Vedder,  the 
Baptist  historian,  says:  "In  the  established 
Church  the  manners  and  morals  of  the  clergy, 
as  depicted  in  contemporary  literature,  were 
frightful.  The  drunken,  lecherous,  swearing,  gam- 
ing parson  is  a  familiar  character  in  the  plays  and 
romances  of  the  period,  and  survives  even  to  the 
beginning  of  the  present  century.  Preferment 
in  Church  depended  upon  subserviency  to  those 
who  were  masters  in  state,  and  the  clergy  took 
their  tone  from  the  court.  Not  only  was  personal 
piety  a  bar  to  advancement  rather  than  a  recom- 
mendation, but  virtually  infidelity  in  the  State 
bred  rationalism  in  theology.  The  clergy  became 
timid,  apologetic,  latitudinarian  in  their  teaching 
and  the  people  became  like  unto  them.  Eeligion 
never  sank  to  so  low  an  ebb  in  England  as  during 
the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth  century." 

Bishop  Ryle  says : ' '  From  the  year  700  till  about 
the  era  of  the  French  Revolution,  England  seemed 
barren  of  all  good.  There  was  darkness  in  high 
places  and  darkness  in  low  places;  darkness  in 
the  court,  the  Parliament,  and  the  bar;  darkness 
in  the  country  and  darkness  in  town;  darkness 


30        BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

among  rich,  and  darkness  among  poor — a  gross, 
thick,  religious  and  moral  darkness;  a  darkness 
that  might  be  felt." 

But  notwithstanding  the  prevailing  unbelief  and 
widespread  apostasy,  the  Lord's  faithful  ones, 
though  few  in  numbers,  obscure  and  uninfluential, 
and  bitterly  persecuted,  stood,  undaunted,  hero- 
ically for  the  Bible  as  the  Word  of  God  and  loyally 
for  the  historic  faith. 

Again  quoting  from  Prof.  Osgood:  "While  Vol- 
taire, in  his  deistical  doctrine  and  licentious  life, 
was  the  fit  representative  of  court  and  literary 
circles  in  France,  and  led  the  dance  of  death  till 
it  whirled  into  the  bloody  bath  of  the  Revolution, 
there  were  in  the  south  of  France  a  few  hundred 
of  the  scattered,  crushed,  abjectly  poor  Huguenots. 
The  edicts  administered  by  dragoons,  laws  of  in- 
credible severity,  had  driven  from  France  every 
Huguenot  of  wealth,  name,  or  position;  only  the 
poor  were  left — charcoal-burners,  sheep-herders 
on  the  lofty  mountains,  farmers  on  the  bare  moun- 
tain sides,  weavers  and  servants.  They  read  the 
Bible  despised  in  Paris ;  they  in  the  depth  of  night 
lapped  the  water  of  life  and  became  the  small 
but  invincible  army  of  God.  Soon  there  were 
assemblies  of  one  thousand,  four  thousand,  ten 
thousand,  twenty  thousand  people,  gathered  at 
night  far  away  from  human  habitation,  to  listen 
to  preachers  on  whose  heads  a  great  price  was 
set,  and  who,  if  caught,  were  as  sure  of  torture 
and  the  gallows  on  earth  as  they  were  of  heaven 
afterward.    Hundreds  of  these  poor  were  caught 


THE  GENESIS  OF  METHODISM        31 

praying  in  French  or  listening  to  French  preach- 
ing, and  willingly  paid  the  penalty  of  a  lifetime  in 
the  torturing  galleys  or  found  a  more  blessed  end 
on  the  gibbet.  All  the  efforts  of  the  government 
were  in  vain  to  prevent  the  importation  of  Bibles 
from  Switzerland  to  feed  the  increasing  number 
of  those  who  knew  it  to  be  the  bread  from  heaven. 
Through  unresting  persecution  of  eighty  years, 
surrounded  by  a  cordon  of  fire,  outside  of  all  law, 
past  the  gibbets  where  their  beloved  hung,  the 
galleys  where  the  backs  of  their  brothers  were 
lashed  till  they  rotted,  the  towers  and  prisons 
where  grandmothers  and  mothers  and  babes  were 
shut  up  for  life,  whose  cry  of  agony  re-echoed 
among  the  hills,  this  band  of  poor,  with  the  Bible 
and  for  the  Bible,  worked  and  taught,  testifying  of 
the  grace  that  is  come  unto  us,  until  the  few  hun- 
dred had  become  more  than  a  million  and  the 
Eevolution  broke  the  infamous  laws  that  op- 
pressed them.  Never  since  the  Apostolic  age  has 
the  power  of  the  Bible  as  the  living  word  of  God 
been  more  gloriously  manifested  than  in  the 
Church  of  the  Desert,  the  Huguenot  revival  of 
the  eighteenth  century. 

1 '  In  the  midst  of  a  well-nigh  universal  defection 
of  German  learning  from  the  Bible  arose  another 
church  of  the  poor,  the  Moravians,  whose  only 
store  was  the  Bible,  relatively  the  most  thoroughly 
missionary  people  of  all  the  denominations.  While 
the  German  universities  were  proving  to  their 
satisfaction  that  the  Bible  contained  more  errors 
than  truths  the  Moravians  were  gathering  con- 


32        BEEAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

verts  to  the  Bible  in  Germany,  England,  Green- 
land, the  West  Indies,  Asia,  and  Africa.  Life 
from  the  dead  was  the  ever-recurring  miracle 
where  they  carried  the  Bible  to  stricken  hearts." 
As  in  France  and  Germany,  so  also  in  England 
God  was  not  without  witnesses  in  these  degenerate 
times:  They  were  poor  and  despised;  but  while 
the  enemies  of  God's  Word  were  exultantly  sing- 
ing: 

"As  sure  as  there's  a  God  in  Gloucester, 
Moses  was  a  great  impostor," 

they  were  studying  " Moses  and  the  prophets," 
searching  the  Scriptures  as  the  Master  command- 
ed, rejoicing  in  their  life-giving  and  sustaining 
power,  and  telling  them  to  ever  willing  listeners. 
These  faithful  witnesses  were  not  alone  of  Dis- 
senters, but  were  also  members  of  the  Established 
Church.  They  were  widely  scattered  throughout 
the  Kingdom,  mostly  in  the  rural  districts.  But 
God  was  raising  up  and  preparing  leaders  for  His 
people.  Among  them  were  Watts  and  James  Fos- 
ter in  London,  and  Doddridge  of  Northampton. 

Then  the  "Twenty  Oxford  Methodists  arose," 
though  they  were  all  members  of  the  Established 
Church,  John  Wesley  in  the  lead.  "I  began," 
says  Wesley,  26  years  of  age,  "to  study  my  Bible 
as  the  one  and  only  standard  of  truth  and  only 
model  of  pure  religion. ' '  They  were  called  ' '  Bible 
Bigots,"  just  as  the  lovers  of  the  Bible  as  God's 
Word  are  called  Bibliolaters  in  our  day. 

It  ought  to  be  noted  that  the  profligate  Astruc's 


THE  GENESIS  OF  METHODISM        33 

invention  of  the  "Jehovistic"  and  "Elohistic" 
documents,  which  form  the  bed-rock  of  the  so- 
called  "Higher  Criticism"  of  the  present  day, 
appeared  in  1730,  and  that  the  name  "Higher 
Criticism"  was  next  invented  by  Eichorn,  a  Ger- 
man rationalist,  and  covered  and  concealed  under 
that  designation  all  that  there  was  in  the  rational- 
ism, deism  and  infidelity  of  the  times,  as  it  does 
to-day.  It  is  only  another  name  for  it.  To  it  is 
justly  charged  the  prevailing  unbelief  and  con- 
sequent spiritual  dearth  of  the  times,  and  the  im- 
moralities that  were  so  conspicuous  and  alarm- 
ingly characteristic  of  that  age  in  both  church 
and  society.  John  Wesley  was  so  well  satisfied 
of  this  that  he  called  this  criticism  "The  Spawn 
of  Hell,"  and  ever  treated  it  as  such,  as  did  his 
associates.  In  all  their  ministries,  the  while  they 
denounced  those  who  criticised  the  Bible,  they 
proclaimed  it  as  God's  Holy  Word,  infallible  and 
therefore  authoritative.  We  know  how  they  went 
through  the  red  hot  fires  of  persecution,  chiefly 
from  those  in  authority  in  the  church,  because  of 
their  loyalty  and  devotion  to  the  Word  of  God. 
Believers  were  brought  together  and  built  up  in 
spiritual  things.  Thousands  were  made  savingly 
acquainted  with  Jesus  Christ.  Britain  was  con- 
vulsed as  by  an  earthquake  by  the  mighty  revival 
that  shook  the  strongholds  of  infidelity  and  agnos- 
ticism, and  which  brought  comfort  and  joy  to 
God's  faithful  people.  The  surging  tides  of  un- 
belief were  turned  and  England  was  saved  from 
the  fate  of  France.     But  not  alone  in  England 


34        BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

did  those  revival  fires  give  life  and  warmth;  for 
o'er  three  thousand  miles  of  ocean  winds  and 
waves  they  flashed,  and  burned  from  Newburyport 
to  Savannah,  and  saved  the  Church  of  God  in  our 
land  from  apostasy,  to  be  a  living  force,  mighty 
in  influence  and  long  continued. 

But  once  again  let  me  quote  from  my  good 
friend  Professor  Osgood:  "But  God,  who  never 
hurries,  never  delays,  was  preparing  His  over- 
whelming answer  to  learned  doubt.  In  the  Bull 
Inn  at  Gloucester,  in  the  west  of  England,  and 
in  the  secluded  rectory  of  Epworth,  amid  the  fens 
of  Lincolnshire,  God  prepared  the  three  flaming 
heralds  of  His  love  and  grace,  Whitefield  and  the 
two  Wesleys,  who  were  to  do  more  to  answer 
the  deists  and  rationalists  than  all  the  libraries 
written  against  them.  To  all  men,  rich  and  poor, 
but  chiefly  to  the  common  people,  who  heard  them 
gladly,  they  commended  the  Bible  as  the  Word 
of  God  with  power ;  they  preached  the  very  heart 
of  the  Bible's  message,  the  infinite  love  of  God 
over  against  the  dark  background  of  man's  sin; 
they  had  found  perfect  peace  of  soul  in  trusting 
the  finished  work  of  Christ,  they  believed  in  what 
others  termed  the  blood  theology,  the  blood  of 
Christ  as  their  redemption,  and  they  could  tell 
others  how  they  could  find  rest  to  their  souls,  by 
a  whole-hearted  trust  in  the  "Word  of  God,  which 
'  cannot  be  broken. '  Bibles,  long  hidden  and  dusty, 
were  brought  out  and  searched,  and  to  every  heart 
crushed  and  bleeding,  self-condemned  and  hope- 
less, the  discredited  Bible  proved  itself  to  be  the 


THE  GENESIS  OF  METHODISM        35 

power  of  the  living  God,  until  in  England  and 
America  a  host  of  believers,  'who  knew  no  more 
but  knew  their  Bibles  true,'  rose  up  through  the 
mighty  Spirit  of  God  to  accomplish  the  wonder- 
ful works  which  have  continued  to  this  day." 

In  summing  up  the  distinctive  characteristics 
of  these  three  great  epochs  in  the  history  of  the 
Church  we  find  the  following  similarities : 

Fikst — False  teachers,  bringing  in  ''damnable 
heresies. " 

Second — Prevailing  unbelief. 

Third — Consequent  immoralities. 

Fourth — God  not  without  witnesses — a  faithful 
and  heroic  few. 

Fifth — Persecutions. 

Sixth — Eevival — God's  Spirit  poured  out. 

Seventh — God's  Word  triumphant. 

"For  all  flesh  is  as  grass,  and  all  the  glory  of 
man  as  the  flower  of  grass.  The  grass  withereth, 
and  the  flower  thereof  f alleth  away :  but  the  Word 
of  the  Lord  endureth  forever."  1  Peter  i  :  24,  25; 
Isa.  xl  :  6-8. 


CHAPTER  II 
PRESENT  DAY  METHODISM 

"For  the  time  is  come  for  judgment  to  begin  at  the  house  of 
God."     1  Peter  iv:  17. 

"And  now  is  the  axe  laid  unto  the  root  of  the  trees:  every  tree 
therefore  that  bringeth  not  forth  good  fruit  is  hewn  down  and  cast 
into  the  fire."     Matt,  iii:  10. 

"  A  BLIND  optimism  is  far  more  dangerous  than 
*"»■  a  nerveless  pessimism.  That  is  a  whole- 
some optimism  which  faces  the  worst  while  be- 
lieving firmly  in  the  possibility  of  the  best." 
From  Episcopal  Address  to  General  Conference, 
1912. 

But  some  say, ' '  It  will  hurt  the  Church  to  speak 
of  its  backslidings  and  shortcomings.' '  The  Sa- 
viour did  not  think  so  in  what  He  had  to  say  con- 
cerning the  Seven  Churches  of  Asia.  Paul  in  his 
Epistles  as  often  denounces  the  unfaith  and  sins 
of  the  members  of  the  churches  as  he  commends 
their  conduct  and  works.  False  teachers  object 
to  a  true  statement  of  the  situation.  So  also  the 
worldlings  in  the  Church.  Likewise  a  few  who 
seem  to  be  more  concerned  for  the  good  name 
of  the  Church — their  particular  Church — than  the 
glory  of  Christ,  and  the  welfare  of  souls.  "For 
we  can  do  nothing  against  the  truth,  but  for  the 
truth."    2  Cor.  xiii  :  8. 

An  Optimist,  in  the  popular  sense,  is  one  who, 

36 


PRESENT  DAY  METHODISM  37 

in  the  presence  of  indisputable  evidence  that  the 
world  is  capturing  the  Church,  persistently  insists 
that  exactly  the  contrary  is  true;  while  the  one 
who  believes  the  evidence  is  called  a  Pessimist. 
It  is  popular  to  call  black,  white ;  because  the  great 
majority  don't  like  black;  but  no  matter  what  the 
many  may  think  or  say,  let  us  try  fairly  and  hon- 
estly to  face  and  state  the  facts. 

Methodism  has,  in  a  large  degree,  lost  its  former 
distinctive  characteristics,  and  been  shorn  of  its 
old-time  spiritual  life  and  power.  The  late  Bishop 
Randolph  S.  Foster  delivered  himself  on  this  sub- 
ject in  the  following  comprehensive  and  emphatic 
manner : 

"Just  now  four  out  of  five  of  our  churches  are 
doing  nothing,  almost  absolutely  nothing;  and 
God's  blessed  cause  is  not  made  one  whit  stronger 
in  numbers  or  influence  by  their  living.  The 
Church  of  God  is  to-day  courting  the  world.  Its 
members  are  bringing  it  down  to  the  level  of  the 
ungodly.  The  ball,  the  theatre,  nude  and  lewd 
art,  social  luxuries,  with  all  their  loose  moralities, 
are  making  inroads  into  the  sacred  enclosure  of 
the  Church. 

"As  a  satisfaction  for  all  this  worldliness  Chris- 
tians are  making  a  great  deal  of  Lent  and  Easter 
ornamentations.  It  is  the  old  trick  of  Satan.  The 
Jewish  Church  struck  on  that  rock,  the  Romish 
Church  was  wrecked  on  it,  and  the  Protestant 
Church  is  fast  reaching  the  same  doom.  Our  great 
dangers,  as  we  see  them,  are  assimilation  to  the 
world,  neglect  of  the  poor,  substitution  of  the  form 


38        BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

for  the  fact  of  godliness,  abandonment  of  dis- 
cipline, a  hireling  ministry,  an  impure  gospel, 
which  summed  up  is  a  fashionable  church.  That 
Methodists  should  be  liable  to  such  an  outcome, 
and  that  there  should  be  signs  of  it  in  a  hundred 
years  from  the  'sail  loft'  seems  almost  the  mir- 
acle of  history;  but  who  that  looks  about  him 
to-day  can  fail  to  see  the  fact? 

"Do  not  Methodists,  in  violation  of  God's  word 
and  their  own  discipline,  dress  as  extravagantly 
and  as  fashionably  as  any  other  class?  Do  not 
the  ladies,  and  often  the  wives  and  daughters  of 
the  ministry,  put  on  'gold  and  pearls  and  costly 
array'?  Would  not  the  plain  dress  insisted  upon 
by  John  Wesley,  Bishop  Asbury,  and  worn  by 
Hester  Ann  Rogers,  Lady  Huntingdon,  and  many 
others  equally  distinguished,  be  now  regarded  in 
Methodist  circles  as  fanaticism?  Can  any  one  go- 
ing into  the  Methodist  Church  in  any  of  our  chief 
cities  distinguish  the  attire  of  the  communicants 
from  that  of  the  theatre  and  ball  goers?  Is 
not  worldliness  seen  in  the  music?  Elaborately 
dressed  and  ornamented  choirs,  who  in  many  cases 
make  no  profession  of  religion  and  are  often  sneer- 
ing sceptics,  go  through  a  cold  artistic  or  operatic 
performance,  which  is  as  much  in  harmony  with 
spiritual  worship  as  an  opera  or  theatre.  Under 
such  worldly  performance  spirituality  is  frozen 
to  death. 

"Formerly  every  Methodist  attended  class  and 
gave  testimony  of  experimental  religion.  Now  the 
class-meeting  is  attended  by  very  few,  and  in 


PRESENT  DAY  METHODISM  39 

many  churches  abandoned.  Seldom  the  stewards, 
trustees,  and  leaders  of  the  church  attend  class. 
Formerly  nearly  every  Methodist  prayed,  testified, 
or  exhorted  in  prayer-meeting.  Now  but  very  few 
are  heard.  Formerly  shouts  and  praises  were 
heard;  now  such  demonstrations  of  holy  enthusi- 
asm and  joy  are  regarded  as  fanaticism. 

"Worldly  socials,  fairs,  festivals,  concerts,  and 
such  like  have  taken  the  place  of  the  religious 
gatherings,  revival  meetings,  class  and  prayer 
meetings  of  earlier  days. 

"How  true  that  the  Methodist  discipline  is  a 
dead  letter.  Its  rules  forbid  the  wearing  of  gold  or 
pearls  or  costly  array;  yet  no  one  ever  thinks  of 
disciplining  its  members  for  violating  them.  They 
forbid  the  reading  of  such  books  and  the  taking 
of  such  diversions  as  do  not  minister  to  godliness, 
yet  the  Church  itself  goes  to  shows  and  frolics  and 
festivals  and  fairs,  which  destroy  the  spiritual  life 
of  the  young  as  well  as  the  old.  The  extent  to 
which  this  is  now  carried  on  is  appalling.  The 
spiritual  death  it  carries  in  its  train  will  only  be 
known  when  the  millions  it  has  swept  into  hell 
stand  before  the  judgment. 

"The  early  Methodist  ministers  went  forth  to 
sacrifice  and  suffer  for  Christ.  They  sought  not 
places  of  ease  and  affluence,  but  of  privation  and 
suffering.  They  gloried  not  in  their  big  salaries, 
fine  parsonages,  and  refined  congregations,  but  in 
the  souls  that  had  been  won  to  Jesus.  Oh,  how 
changed!  A  hireling  ministry  will  be  a  feeble, 
a  timid,  a  truckling,  a  time-serving  ministry  with- 


40        BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

out  faith,  endurance,  and  holy  power.  Methodism 
formerly  dealt  in  the  great  central  truth.  Now 
the  pulpits  deal  largely  in  generalities  and  in  pop- 
ular lectures.  The  glorious  doctrine  of  entire  sanc- 
tification  is  rarely  heard  and  seldom  witnessed  in 
the  pulpits." 

Few,  if  any,  of  the  above  statements  will  be 
called  in  question  by  any  one  at  all  familiar  with 
the  situation. 

The  following  is  taken  from  the  Cleveland  Daily 
Leader,  of  Feb.  10,  1903: 

"Rev.  Dr.  Buckley,  editor  of  the  Christian  Ad- 
vocate, startled  the  meeting  of  the  Methodist  min- 
isters to-day  by  disputing  the  statement  of  Rev. 
Dr.  Thompson,  of  Chicago,  that  a  million  and  a 
half  converts  have  been  made  by  the  Methodist 
Church  in  the  past  four  years.  Dr.  Buckley  de- 
clared that  statistics  showed  that  Methodism  was 
actually  rapidly  declining,  especially  in  some  of 
the  Eastern  conferences. 

"'The  trouble  with  too  many  preachers  to-day," 
said  he,  "is  that  they  never  teach  the  deity  of 
Christ.  They  preach  the  divinity  of  Christ,  but 
that  is  a  different  thing — a  mere  theological  point 
But  the  deity  of  Christ  they  neglect.  They  might 
as  well  be  Unitarians. 

"I  don't  believe  it  is  necessary  to  preach  the 
absolute  depravity  of  man.  I  don't  believe  that 
I  was  ever  so  bad  as  I  really  could  have  been. 
But  the  essential  truths  regarding  the  remission 
of  sins  should  not  be  overlooked.  To  preach  the 
crucifixion  and  not  to  preach  it  as  having  a  pur- 
pose is  not  to  preach  it  at  all. 


PBESENT  DAY  METHODISM  41 

"There  are  thousands  of  men  in  this  city  who 
have  never  had  the  gospel  presented  to  them  in 
a  manner  which  could  reach  them.  They  are  to 
be  saved  in  the  manner  in  which  the  heathen  are 
to  be  saved,  by  the  light  that  reached  them.  While 
I  cannot  agree  with  the  Calvinists  that  none  of 
the  elect  ever  fall  away,  the  older  I  grow  the  more 
I  think  that  very  few  fall  away  who  were  really 
converted." 

Dr.  Buckley  added  that  many  ministers  will 
plainly  state  in  public  their  frank  doubt  as  to  the 
truth  of  the  Pentateuch.    He  continued: 

"Some  of  our  ministers  even  do  not  hesitate  to 
state  in  their  pulpits  that  in  a  few  years  Abraham 
will  be  generally  regarded  as  a  name  and  not  as 
a  person.  For  twenty  years  I  have  not  heard  a 
real  sermon  on  such  a  topic  as  the  new  birth.  I 
have  heard  only  one  sermon  on  sin  properly  pre- 
sented." 

Eev.  Dr.  Leonard,  secretary  of  the  Methodist 
Missionary  Society,  took  up  the  discussion. 

"I  do  not  believe  there  is  the  same  sort  of  re- 
ligious experience  in  our  Church  that  there  was 
twenty-five  years  ago, ' '  he  said.  ' '  The  class  meet- 
ing is  out  of  date.  There  is  a  sort  of  substitute 
in  the  Epworth  League,  where  members  are  called 
upon  to  say  a  word.  But  one  cannot  tell  his  soul's 
experience  in  a  word.  I  have  heard  such  experi- 
ences when  I  was  a  youth  that  thrilled  me  through 
and  through,  and  made  me  really  feel  that  if  I  did 
not  repent  I  would  surely  be  lost. 

"We  do  not  have  the  old  love  feast  either.    And 


42        BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

when  do  our  preachers  sternly  preach  the  damna- 
tion of  hell  and  the  worm  that  dieth  not?  You 
hear  little  about  future  punishment.  We  should 
preach  in  terms  that  will  make  men  feel  there  is 
an  awful  hell,  and  that  unless  they  repent  and 
have  faith  in  Christ  they  are  lost.  In  the  time 
of  John  Wesley  many  of  the  ministry  were  drunk- 
ards. Many  were  thoroughly  bad.  Voltaire  pre- 
dicted then  that  Christianity  would  soon  die  out 
in  the  world.  Is  it  possible  this  prediction  is  about 
to  be  fulfilled!" 

The  following  is  from  a  communication  in  the 
Christian  Advocate,  of  May  20th,  1909,  bearing 
the  title  "The  'New'  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,"  by  C.  Herbert  Richardson,  D.D.,  of  the 
Baltimore  Conference : 

THE  OLD   AND  THE  "NEW"  CHURCH 

"The  old  was  autocratic  and  oligarchic;  the  new 
is  democratic.  The  old  was  paternal,  brotherly, 
social,  fervent;  the  new,  legal,  political,  commer- 
cial ;  the  old  was  an  evangel ;  the  new  an  ecclesias- 
ticism.  The  old  held  to  the  traditional  interpreta- 
tion of  Scripture;  the  new  has  accepted  broader, 
popular  views. 

Over  the  Church,  moreover,  has  come  a  lessened 
appreciation  of  the  pastoral  office,  an  almost  com- 
plete abnegation  of  discipline,  the  rise  of  the  pro- 
fessional evangelist,  yet  decreased  evangelistic 
power,  because  of  less  administrative  force  owing 
to  the  diminution  of  pastoral  authority  and  pas- 
toral effectiveness.    The  connectional  spirit  is  re- 


PRESENT  DAY  METHODISM  43 

ceding  and  the  Church  through  the  abrogation  of 
the  time  limit,  the  election  of  presiding  elders, 
the  rule  on  amusements,  etc.,  attempts  to  revive 
its  ancient  fervor  and  prosecute  its  historic  work. 
Inspiration  is  giving  place  to  regulation,  unction 
to  law. 

The  Methodism  of  to-day,  in  sentiment,  in  in- 
stitutions, in  law,  in  work,  differs  much  from  that 
of  former  years.  Whether  these  are  for  its  better- 
ment and  extension,  or  whether  the  "New" 
Church  itself  is  a  transition  to  some  new  phase  of 
the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth,  depends  on  how  far 
the  changes  wrought  in  its  fibre  are  in  harmony 
with  the  unseen  but  eternal  verities  of  that  king- 
dom which  is  an  everlasting  kingdom,  and  that 
dominion  which  has  no  end. ' ' 

The  following  excerpts  are  taken  from  "The 
Episcopal  Address, ' '  delivered  to  the  last  General 
Conference,  held  in  Minneapolis,  Minn.,  during 
the  month  of  May,  1912: 

"The  spiritual  thermometer  registers  certain 
conditions  that  create  anxiety.  Our  distinctive  doc- 
trines are  not  emphasized  as  they  once  were;  or, 
where  preached,  discredited  for  the  time  by  a  gain- 
saying world,  drunk  with  vain  philosophies  and 
sated  with  gluttonous  indulgence.  The  emphasis 
of  "Wesley's  great  movement  was  on  the  necessity 
of  the  new  birth  as  evidenced  by  the  depravity 
of  the  human  soul.  Has  this  generation  so  dem- 
onstrated goodness  that  we  need  no  longer  insist 
upon  spiritual  regeneration?  What  prophet  or 
apostle  is  vouching  for  the  moral  character  of  this 


44        BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

generation  that  the  Christian  pulpit  has  become 
silent  about  human  depravity  and  the  judgment 
to  come  1  That  a  mad  contagion  of  greed,  worldli- 
ness,  pride  and  lust  has  invaded  the  churches, 
and  that  many  thousands  of  all  denominations 
have  turned  from  their  vows  without  compunction, 
it  is  useless  to  deny. 

"Wherever  rationalism  has  so  despoiled  the 
Bible  that  to  many,  both  in  pulpit  and  pew,  it  is 
left  without  inspiration  and  authority,  so  that 
expediency  takes  precedence  of  God's  law  in  the 
home  and  even  in  church  administration ;  wherever 
the  offices  of  the  Holy  Spirit  have  been  psychologi- 
cally negatived  and  the  manger  of  Bethlehem 
robbed  of  its  divine  child;  wherever  the  cross  of 
Calvary  bleeds  without  atoning  virtue  and  there 
is  no  longer  a  fountain  filled  with  blood  in  which 
sinners  may  find  cleansing;  wherever,  indeed, 
there  is  no  issue  of  damnable  sin  between  God 
and  the  transgressor,  it  can  be  no  marvel  if  there 
church  discontent  prevails. 

"When  we  think  of  the  millions  of  dollars  our 
people  are  investing  in  beautiful  modern  church 
buildings,  in  Christian  schools,  in  home  and  for- 
eign missions,  in  orphanages,  homes  for  the  aged, 
and  in  great  hospitals — and  then  of  all  the  children 
born  in  their  homes,  and  the  millions  of  other  chil- 
dren who  attend  our  Sunday  schools,  and  from 
all  adult  conversions  throughout  our  entire  con- 
nection, we  have  a  reported  increase  of  but  55,000 
to  our  church  membership,  less  than  2  per  cent., 
as  the  outcome  of  a  year's  activity  and  the  outlay 
of  so  many  millions  of  dollars ;  it  is  then  we  trem- 


PRESENT  DAY  METHODISM  45 

ble  for  the  Church.  The  statistical  paradox  glares 
us  out  of  countenance.  It  shames  and  humiliates 
us.  Only  tears  of  repentance  become  us;  our 
hearts  bleed  contrition.  If  the  soul  be  dying  with- 
in us,  what  have  we  to  legislate  for?  What  are 
honors  or  offices  worth  in  an  army  that  does  not 
win  battles?" 

Then  after  all  this,  and  some  more  of  the  same 
sort,  the  same  Episcopal  Address  adds:  "Meth- 
odism was  meant  to  be  an  itinerant  revival — a 
moving  Pentecost.  Into  its  wheels  was  breathed 
the  Master's  word,  Go !  It  is  not  geared  for  stand- 
ing still.  Its  equilibrium  depends  upon  forward 
motion.  It  wobbles  only  when  speed  is  slackened. 
It  will  topple  over  in  to  the  ecclesiastical  scrap- 
pile  if  it  stops.    Therefore  it  must  not  stop." 

The  above  deliverances  are  well  within  the 
truth;  but  they  do  not  state  the  whole  truth.  The 
very  worst  part  of  the  present  situation  is  found 
in  the  fact  that  in  not  a  few  Methodist  Educational 
Institutions  infidel  objections  to  the  Bible  are 
openly  taught,  and  scepticism  and  agnosticism  are 
alarmingly  prevalent ;  and  many  of  our  young  peo- 
ple are  being  turned  from  the  faith  and  church  of 
their  fathers  and  mothers.  Hundreds  of  pastors 
have  taken  up  with  these  infidel  objections,  and, 
in  violation  of  their  most  solemn  ordination  vows 
proclaim  the  same,  while  many  other  hundreds 
offer  no  word  of  protest,  although  when  ordained 
they  covenanted  "With  all  faithful  diligence  to 
banish  and  drive  away  all  erroneous  and  strange 
doctrines  contrary  to  God's  Word." 


46        BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

The  church  periodicals  seldom  say  anything  on 
the  subject ;  and  usually  what  they  do  say  is  favor- 
ably of  the  false  teaching,  and  apologetically  of 
the  men  who  are  responsible  for  it.  Even  some 
of  the  bishops  are  in  sympathy  with  this  God- 
dishonoring  and  soul-destroying  business.  They 
will  often  promote  men  who  are  notoriously  un- 
sound and  unsafe.  It  seems  not  at  all  to  be  in 
the  way  of  his  promotion  that  a  man  is  known 
to  be  a  believer  in  and  advocate  of  antibiblical 
and  unmethodistic  views.  Indeed,  it  sometimes 
appears  as  though  a  premium  was  placed  upon 
this  very  thing.  Men  who  have  faithfully  kept 
their  ordination  vows  and  obeyed  the  Divine  com- 
mands have  been  given  the  cold  hand  by  those  in 
authority  for  doing  so,  and  subjected  to  persecu- 
tions, as  were  the  Wesleys  and  their  coadjutors 
by  the  authorities  in  the  Established  Church. 

Great  sweeping  revivals  such  as  but  a  few  years 
ago  were  the  glory  of  Methodism  are  now  infre- 
quent, and  the  churches'  altars  are  well  nigh  de- 
serted. Evangelists  and  their  work  are  slurred 
by  editors  and  officials,  as  were  the  Wesleys ;  and 
even  some  of  the  bishops  are  opposed  to  revivals 
in  any  real  and  scriptural  sense. 

But  amid  all  this  unbelief,  worldliness  and  un- 
faithfulness the  Lord  has  faithful  witnesses,  but 
in  decreasing  numbers,  because  the  "New"  Meth- 
odism has  the  whip-hand,  and  the  many  go  with 
the  crowd;  and  loyalty  to  the  truth  has  always 
been  costly,  and  always  will  be. 


CHAPTER  III 
OUR  EDUCATIONAL  INSTITUTIONS 

"  I  will  destroy  the  wisdom  of  the  wise,  and  will  bring  to  nothing 
the  understanding  of  the  prudent.  Where  is  the  wise?  Where  is 
the  Scribe?  Where  is  the  disputer  of  this  world?  Hath  not  God 
made  foolish  the  wisdom  of  this  world?  "     1  Cor.  i:  19,  20. 

MARTIN  LUTHER  once  said:  "lam  much 
afraid  that  the  universities  will  prove  to  be 
the  great  gates  to  hell,  unless  they  diligently  labor 
in  explaining  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  engraving 
them  in  the  hearts  of  youth.  I  advise  no  one  to 
place  his  child  where  the  Scriptures  do  not  reign 
paramount.  Every  institution  in  which  men  are 
not  unceasingly  occupied  with  the  Word  of  God 
must  become  corrupt." 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has,  properly 
and  wisely,  from  the  beginning  of  the  movement, 
been  an  ardent  advocate  of  Christian  scholastic 
education,  with  the  emphasis  placed  upon  Christ- 
tian.  In  a  land  like  ours,  where  the  State  fur- 
nishes freely,  adequate  educational  advantages, 
the  Church  has  no  reason  whatever  for  supporting 
and  operating  a  purely  secular  school,  and  there 
is  not  the  least  bit  of  sense  in  the  Church  giving 
its  money  to  support  schools  that  are  no  better — 
if  as  good — nor  Methodistic,  save  in  name,  than 

47 


48        BREAKERS !  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

the  State  freely  provides.  Most  of  our  schools 
were  organized  in  the  formative  periods  of  the 
churches  where  located,  which  in  the  case  of  nearly 
all  the  leading  schools  of  the  denomination  is 
synonymous  with  the  early  history  of  Methodism. 
Our  fathers,  with  full  knowledge  of  the  perils  to 
the  faith  of  the  young  in  the  schools  of  their  time, 
gave  heroically  of  their  means  to  establish  and 
support  schools  in  which  should  be  taught  nothing 
contrary  to  the  Word  of  God,  or  the  doctrines 
of  the  Church,  that  our  young  people  might  be- 
come and  ever  remain  good  Methodists.  This  is 
the  chief,  if  not  only  reason  for  founding  and  sup- 
porting these  schools. 

At  the  present  time  most  of  these  schools  are 
as  secular  as  the  State  schools ;  and,  save  in  name, 
no  more  Methodistic.  They  have  entered  into 
competition  with  the  schools  of  the  State,  and  the 
authorities  believe  themselves  justified  in  employ- 
ing unmethodistic,  unchristian,  and  even  infidel 
instructors,  providing  they  are  experts  according 
to  the  methods  of  the  secular  schools.  In  them 
the  Bible  is  freely  criticised,  its  authority  chal- 
lenged, its  infallibility  and  trustworthiness  de- 
nied ;  and  the  doctrines  of  Methodism  and  the  his- 
toric faith  discredited.  Naturalism,  scepticism, 
agnosticism,  infidelism,  and  worldliness  have 
largely  taken  the  place  of  the  one-time  spiritual 
and  religious  life  of  these  schools;  and  the  faith 
of  multitudes  of  our  youth  has  been  and  is  being 
wrecked.  These  are  sad  and  terrible  statements 
to  make,  but  they  are  awfully  true,  or  I  would  not 


OUE  EDUCATIONAL  INSTITUTIONS      49 

make  them ;  and  I  will  prove  them  to  be  true,  hop- 
ing thereby  to  arouse  the  Church  to  the  peril  that 
threatens  her  very  existence. 

Four  years  ago  Mr.  Harold  Bolce,  in  the  Cos- 
mopolitan Magazine,  made  some  revelations  of 
what  is  being  taught  in  many  educational  institu- 
tions of  the  country  that  startled  the  civilized 
world  and  horrified  the  Church  of  God.  Many 
educators  pooh-poohed  and  ridiculed  Mr.  Bolce  'a 
revelations,  but  no  one  even  attempted  to  disprove 
them  or  call  him  to  book.  The  fact  is  Luther's 
fear  was  reasonable  and  has  been  justified  again 
and  again. 

Some  years  ago  I  conducted  chapel  exercises 
one  morning  in  Syracuse  University,  which  Mr. 
Bolce  calls  '.'a  religious  institution  tempered  by 
secular  subsidies."  The  professor  having  charge 
said  to  me:  "Just  read  a  short  Psalm  or  an  ex- 
cerpt from  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  and  repeat 
the  Lord  'a  Prayer. ' '  I  asked :  "  Is  not  this  a  Meth- 
odist school?"  He  replied:  "Yes,  but  you  know 
we  have  Jews,  Catholics,  Unitarians  and  Agnos- 
tics in  our  student  body,  and  we  think  best  to  keep 
what  Methodists  believe  in  the  background." 

Professor  I.  J.  Peritz  of  the  faculty  of  Syracuse 
University  is  in  sympathy  with  destructive  higher 
criticism  and  teaches  it  to  his  students. 

Mr.  Bolce  entered  Syracuse  University  as  a 
1 '  special  student,  taking  a  course  in  sociology  un- 
der Prof.  Edwin  L.  Earp."  He  bears  the  follow- 
ing testimony  as  to  Prof.  Earp's  work: 

"It  seemed  to  me  that  if  anywhere  among  the 


50        BREAKERS !  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

colleges  of  America  old-time  doctrines  would  find 
valiant  defence  it  would  be  here,  in  the  teachings 
of  this  doctor  of  philosophy  and  divinity,  in  an 
institution  presided  over  by  one  of  the  foremost 
leaders  of  a  great  evangelical  denomination. 

"Early  in  the  course  Professor  Earp  touched 
upon  the  doctrine  of  the  origin  of  morals.  He  was 
expounding  the  scientific  interpretation  of  con- 
duct, and  explaining  that  our  standards  of  right 
and  wrong  are  the  product  of  experience.  I  had 
heard  a  number  of  other  professors  in  other  col- 
leges dwell  upon  this  same  theme,  saying  that  our 
conceptions  of  what  we  should  do  are  not  sent 
to  us  from  heaven,  but  are  the  development  of 
the  centuries.  Mankind,  they  asserted,  had  tried 
many  things  from  age  to  age,  and  out  of  all  the 
stumblings  and  successes  of  the  race  had  selected 
whatever  was  best  for  any  particular  period. 

"I  wanted  to  know  what  this  capable  sociologist, 
who  had  obviously  thought  himself  out  from  old- 
time  tradition,  would  say  in  reply  to  a  direct  ques- 
tion. So  from  my  seat  in  the  class-room  I  ad- 
dressed him. 

"  'Do  you  not  believe,  Professor/  I  asked,  'that 
Moses  got  the  ten  commandments  in  the  way  the 
Scriptures  tell?' 

"The  professor  smiled.  'I  do  not/  said  he.  'It 
is  unscientific  and  absurd  to  imagine  that  God  ever 
turned  stone-mason  and  chiselled  commandments 
on  a  rock.' 

"What  gives  piquant  emphasis  to  Professor 
Earp's  scholastic  denial  of  the  divine  origin  of 


OUR  EDUCATIONAL  INSTITUTIONS      51 

the  decalogue  is  that  even  now,  in  addition  to  his 
busy  and  successful  labors  in  Syracuse  University 
among  many  classes  of  young  men  and  women, 
he  frequently  speaks  from  the  orthodox  pulpit. 

1 '  It  will  be  apparent  as  this  record  proceeds  that 
Professor  Earp  is  by  no  means  a  solitary  pioneer 
among  the  modern  college  authorities  in  the  scien- 
tific handling  of  the  sacred  story.  Syracuse  Uni- 
versity, at  least  in  this  department,  is  merely  pro- 
claiming the  same  character  of  latter-day  criticism 
and  belief  that  caused  the  suspension  by  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Dr. 
Charles  A.  Briggs,  now  of  Union  Theological  Sem- 
inary, and  in  more  recent  times  the  retirement  of 
his  colleague,  Doctor  Crapsey.  I  shall  show,  when 
I  have  occasion  to  quote  Prof.  George  H.  Howison, 
of  the  University  of  California ;  Pres.  David  Starr 
Jordan,  of  Leland  Stanford  University ;  Dr.  Her- 
bert L.  Willett,  of  the  University  of  Chicago ;  and 
Prof.  George  A.  Coe,  of  Northwestern  University, 
which  is  governed  by  a  religious  denomination, 
that  the  reverend  academician  of  Syracuse  is 
really  a  conservative  among  his  contemporary 
iconoclasts." 

Day  before  yesterday  a  ministerial  friend  of 
mine  said  to  me:  "Recently  one  of  my  members 
told  to  me  this,  'We  sent  our  daughter  to  Syracuse 
University  a  warm,  earnest,  whole-hearted  Chris- 
tian. While  there  her  faith  was  wrecked,  and  she 
is  now  an  agnostic'  " 

A  short  time  since  a  bishop  of  a  sister  denom- 
ination said  to  me :  "I  sent  my  daughter  to  Boston 


52        BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

University  an  intelligent,  devoted  Christian.  The 
other  day  she  came  to  me  and  said,  'Father,  I 
want  to  make  a  confession.  While  at  Boston  Uni- 
versity, because  of  what  we  were  there  taught,  I 
came  to  disbelieve  the  Bible  and  lost  my  faith 
in  my  Saviour ;  and  all  the  girls  in  our  class  had 
the  same  experience  as  I.  It  has  taken  me  six 
months  to  get  back  on  to  the  Rock.'  " 

A  prominent  Methodist  pastor  told  me :  "  I  sent 
my  son  Harry  to  the  Wesleyan  University  at  Mid- 
dletown,  Conn.,  with  a  view  to  fit  him  for  the  min- 
istry. The  teaching  there  destroyed  his  faith  in 
the  Bible  as  the  word  of  God,  and  he  has  aban- 
doned his  purpose  of  entering  the  ministry." 

While  conducting  an  evangelistic  campaign  in 
a  western  city  a  wealthy  member  of  our  Church, 
a  delegate  to  two  General  Conferences,  told  me, 
"I  sent  my  oldest  son  to  Wesleyan  University, 
Middletown,  Conn.  Before  he  left  home  he  was 
considered  by  all  who  knew  him  to  be  a  model 
Christian  young  man.  He  would  conduct  'family 
worship,'  lead  the  church  prayer  meeting;  was 
a  teacher  in  the  Sunday  school,  and  would  speak 
and  exhort  in  the  meetings  of  the  church.  While 
at  school  he  came  under  the  influence  of  a  certain 
professor,  who  is  a  higher  critic.  He  came  home 
an  infidel,  and  has  not  once  been  inside  a  church 
since."  When  the  father  told  me  this,  he  burst 
into  tears  and  said,  "Brother  Munhall,  I  would 
a  thousand  times  rather  my  boy  had  lived  all  his 
days  in  ignorance  than  to  have  had  his  faith  thus 
shipwrecked." 


OUR  EDUCATIONAL  INSTITUTIONS      53 

A  year  ago  a  Methodist  lady  friend  of  mine, 
in  the  presence  of  her  husband,  said:  "We  dedi- 
cated our  only  son  to  the  ministry  at  his  birth. 
We  sent  him  to  Wesleyan  University  with  that 
in  view.  They  sent  him  back  to  us  an  infidel.  Our 
hopes  are  dashed  and  our  hearts  are  broken." 

The  Wesleyan  University,  at  Delaware,  Ohio, 
has  what  is  known  as  the  "Merrick  Lecture 
Course,"  founded  for  the  praiseworthy  purpose  of 
giving  the  students  encouragement  and  help  in 
right  thinking  and  doing.  Four  years  ago  the 
Rev.  George  Jackson,  a  notoriously  destructive 
critic  of  the  Bible,  was  brought  from  Toronto, 
Canada,  and  gave  six  lectures  in  this  course,  which 
had  been  previously  given  in  that  city,  to  the  as- 
tonishment and  disgust  of  loyal  Methodists 
throughout  the  Dominion,  and  for  which  he  was 
prosecuted  for  heresy  by  Dr.  Carman,  editor  of 
the  Christian  Guardian,  the  official  organ  of  Cana- 
dian Methodism. 

A  district  superintendent  writing  to  one  of  our 
bishops,  said:  "Regarding  the  Jackson  lectures. 
.  .  .  I  heard  two  of  them.  They  eliminated 
the  first  eleven  chapters  of  Genesis,  and  put 
good  old  father  Abraham,  and  everything  from 
his  day  to  Moses,  in  the  realm  of  mythology.  I 
felt  badly  about  it,  because  I  had  always  liked 
Enoch  and  Noah,  and  the  patriarchs;  and  he  did 
it  with  such  an  egotistic  and  triumphant  air  that 
he  must  have  impressed  some  that  he  knew  some- 
thing; but  it  was  all  assertion — not  a  word  of 
proof  for  all  he  assumed — and  yet  it  was  all  done 


54        BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

in  the  name  of  the  Merrick  Lectures.  What  are 
we  coming  to?  There  were  young  men — many  of 
them — waiting  a  clear  Gospel  call  to  work,  and 
they  got  a  doubt.' ' 

The  following  is  a  report  of  the  lectures,  taken 
from  the  Daily  Journal-Herald,  of  Delaware : 

FIRST  LECTURE,  SUNDAY,  P.  M.,  APRIL  25,  1909 

Subject: — "The  Old  Testament  and  Modern 
Criticism." 

"It  has  resulted  in  assuring  us  that  a  greater 
portion  of  the  Old  Testament  than  was  formerly 
believed  is  anonymous,  that  it  makes  use  of  a 
greater  variety  of  literary  form,  in  fact  of  every 
form  of  which  the  Hebrews  were  familiar,  and 
that  most  of  the  books  are  composite  in  character, 
that  they  are  the  work  of  several  hands  instead 
of  one,  and  that  their  present  form  is  a  compila- 
tion of  the  materials  at  hand  when  the  books  were 
collected.  These  emphatic  negatives  on  the  ques- 
tion of  authorship,  however,  should  not  shake  our 
faith  in  the  Bible.  It  is  the  Bible  just  the  same — 
a  collection  of  ideal  thoughts  of  1,000  years.  But 
the  question  becomes  more  serious  when  certain 
portions  are  to  be  classed  as  myths  or  legends, 
but  this  variety  of  form  we  must  admit.  It  is 
the  composite  character  of  the  various  books  which 
raises  the  greatest  difficulties,  however,  for  it 
throws  out  the  old  ideas  of  the  inspiration  of  the 
writers  of  the  Old  Testament. 


OUR  EDUCATIONAL  INSTITUTIONS      55 

SECOND  LECTURE,  APRIL  26,  P.  M. 

The  distinction  we  are  accustomed  to  draw  be- 
tween the  historical  and  prophetical  books  of  the 
Old  Testament  does  not  exist  at  all  in  the  Hebrew 
Bible,  so  that  to  the  Hebrews  themselves,  those 
of  their  sacred  writers  whom  we  name  historical, 
were  rather  prophets,  interpreters  of  the  divine 
will  as  that  will  had  expressed  itself  in  their  na- 
tion's past.  Have  we  not  in  this  fact  the  key  to 
the  interpretation  of  their  writings?  Their  su- 
preme concern  is  not  history,  as  we  understand 
it  to-day,  but  religion;  not  man  and  his  doings, 
but  God  and  His  providence,  and  the  result  is  that 
the  Biblical  writers  are  often  careless  about  de- 
tails. But  if,  through  the  adoption  of  the  pro- 
phetic standpoint  and  method,  there  is  a  loss  to 
history,  how  great  is  the  gain  to  religion!  Its 
narratives  may  sometimes  disappoint  us  as  his- 
tory ;  they  satisfy  us  as  religion.  The  seeker  after 
dates  and  facts  and  figures  may  often  be  sent 
empty  away ;  but  the  hungry  for  God  is  filled  with 
good  things.  .  .  .  Such,  then,  are  some  of  the 
facts  which  call  for  frank  recognition  on  the  part 
of  the  student  who  is  seeking  to  form  a  true  es- 
timate of  the  historical  trustworthiness  of  our  Old 
Testament  Scriptures.  And  once  more  be  it  ob- 
served that  it  is  not  the  critic  but  the  Bible  itself 
that  is  responsible  for  them.  But  it  is  urged,  if 
we  cannot  be  sure  of  Abraham  how  can  we  be  sure 
of  Christ  ?  Yet  in  the  early  dawn  of  every  nation, 
not  of  the  Jews  only,  there  are  dim  figures  whose 
outlines  we  can  but  faintly  descry  through  the 


56        BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

thickening  mists  of  the  past,  etc.  .  .  .  Let  us 
abandon  our  wholly  baseless  idea  of  the  exact 
and  equally  historical  truth  of  every  part  of  Scrip- 
ture, and  mix  with  our  reading  of  the  Bible  a  little 
common  sense. 

THIRD  LECTURE,  APRIL  27,  1909 

Theme  : — The  Early  Chapters  of  Genesis. 

They  are  not  literal  history  and  must  be  ad- 
justed to  the  modern  faith.  .  .  .  We  have  an 
impression  that  many  of  these  things  are  not  his- 
tory, but  myths,  legends  and  allegories.  .  .  . 
The  stories  of  men  living  to  be  900  years  of  age 
has  been  discredited  by  scientific  discoveries  and 
are  supposed  to  be  traditions  handed  down  from 
a  barbarous  age.  The  stories  of  the  fall  of  Adam 
and  Eve,  the  flood,  and  the  Tower  of  Babel  were 
taken  up  at  length,  discussed  and  proved  to  be 
only  types  of  allegories  as  far  as  our  knowledge 
goes.  Their  physical  impossibility  are  far  from 
being  credible,  for  Egyptian  records  deny  the 
flood,  and  it  was  supposed  to  cover  the  whole  earth. 
The  Tower  of  Bable  corresponds  to  the  myths  of 
giants,  etc.,  of  early  Greek  mythology.  However, 
the  results  so  far  have  been  mainly  negative.  With 
the  help  of  the  science  of  literary  and  historical 
criticism  men  have  examined  anew  this  Hebrew 
literature.  They  cannot  find  history  or  science 
in  them,  but  they  have  found  myths, that  under- 
neath them  have  to  do  with  the  customs  and  early 
life  of  a  developing  people  and  a  lesson  to  all 


OUR  EDUCATIONAL  INSTITUTIONS      57 

readers.  .  .  .  But  why  should  we  still  keep  it  in 
the  Bible  if  it  does  us  no  good?  Whatever  has 
been  long  respected  is  probably  respectable. 

FOURTH   LECTURE,  APRIL  28,  1909 

Subject: — "The  Booh  of  Jonah." 

The  miserable  literalism  which  will  persist  in 
reading  poetry  of  the  Bible  as  if  it  were  prose 
has  ended  here,  as  it  always  ends,  in  adding  new 
burdens  to  belief  at  the  same  time  it  makes  sport 
for  the  unbelieving  Philistines.  The  Book  of 
Jonah  belongs  plainly  to  the  realm  of  imagination, 
not  of  actual  historical  fact.  Some  will  ask,  Is 
the  Book  of  Jonah  true?  The  answer  is:  No,  it 
is  not  and  it  was  never  meant  to  be,  and  when  we 
so  read  it  we  are  misinterpreting  'the  writer's 
own  evident  intention.  .  .  .  Truth  in  the  sense 
of  literal  historical  fact  it  does  not  contain. 

FIFTH  LECTURE,  APRIL  29 

Subject: — The  Moral  Difficulties  of  the  Old 
Testament. 

If  it  is  to  be  said  that  modern  criticism  is  slay- 
ing its  thousands,  then  it  must  also  be  said  that 
the  doctrine  of  the  equal  authority  of  all  parts 
of  Scripture  is  slaying  its  tens  of  thousands,  and 
that  the  day  has  fully  come  when  loyalty  to  truth 
and  the  interests  of  the  Church  alike  demand  its 
complete  and  unequivocal  disavowal. 

The  right  place  for  the  Old  Testament  is  not 


58        BREAKERS !  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

in  front  of,  nor  even  by  the  side  of,  but  behind 
the  New.  The  Son  of  Man  is  Lord  also  of  the 
Old  Testament,  and  the  servant  is  not  greater  than 
his  Lord;  indeed,  he  is  without  authority  at  all 
save  in  so  far  as  his  word  is  endorsed  and  re- 
affirmed by  the  Master  himself. 

SIXTH  LECTURE,  APRIL  30,  1909 

Subject: — Summary  of  the  Series. 

If  the  narratives  of  Genesis  are  not  history  or 
science;  if  the  Pentateuchal  law  is  not  the  work 
of  Moses ;  if  the  story  of  Jonah  is  only  a  parable, 
what  becomes  of  our  faith  in  a  divine  revelation 
to  Israel?  There  is  one  ground,  however,  which 
is  firm  footing  for  all,  and  that  is  the  fact  that 
there  is  a  universal  God,  and  that  He  has  revealed 
Himself  to  His  people  through  the  prophets  and 
other  means.  And  this  belief  is  strengthened  by 
the  fact  that  God  is  just  as  real  and  full  in  the 
reconstructed  history  as  He  was  in  the  Old.  Mod- 
ern Criticism  does  not  touch  the  fact  of  revelation 
except  to  set  it  in  a  clearer  light.  It  cannot  touch 
the  substance  of  that  living  Word,  which  shines 
with  the  same  divine  truth  at  all  times  and  under 
every  form  of  revelation.  Criticism  presupposes 
this  inspiration,  it  seeks  only  to  determine  the 
conditions  under  which  it  operates  and  the  liter- 
ary forms  through  which  it  manifests  itself. 

It  (the  Old  Testament)  is  only  at  best  a  collec- 
tion of  books,  a  national  literature  with  1,000 
years  from  its  earliest  to  its  latest  contents. 


OUR  EDUCATIONAL  INSTITUTIONS      59 

Away  back  there  we  find  the  wonderful,  cruel 
and  omnipotent  Jehovah,  the  same  God  who  has 
been  reconstructed  into  our  modern  idea  of 
God.  .  .  .  All  the  facts  that  one  could  gather 
from  Israel's  history,  literature  and  religion  make 
it  obvious  that  we  are  in  the  presence  of  a  moral 
and  spiritual  phenomenon  wholly  unaffected  by 
inaccuracies,  obscurities,  or  immoralities  pre- 
sented by  individual  narratives  in  the  book. 

The  application  of  the  historical  method  to  the 
study  of  the  Old  Testament  has  put  into  our  hands 
a  new  apology  for  the  Bible  far  superior  to  any 
heretofore  presented." 

But  it  may  be  urged  by  those  in  sympathy  with 
such  teaching  that  these  are  newspaper  reports 
of  what  was  said.  But  I  have  been  informed  that 
they  were  edited  by  Mr.  Jackson  himself.  But, 
that  there  may  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  character 
of  his  teaching,  I  will  make  some  quotations  from 
his  book,  "The  Preacher  and  the  Modern  Mind" 
that  contains  much  found  in  the  lectures. 

THE   OLD  TESTAMENT   RECORD 

1 '  The  early  chapters  of  Genesis  are  not  history ; 
and  the  problem  of  origins  we  must  be  content 
to  leave  to  science  to  make  of  it  what  it  can." 
P.  23. 

"We  must  learn  to  recognize  varying  degrees 
of  historical  trustworthiness  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. ...  In  the  case  of  the  Pentateuch,  how- 
ever, there  is  a  gulf  of  centuries  between  the  earli- 
est written  records  from  which  it  was  compiled 


60        BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

and  the  events  which  it  relates.  When  we  get 
back  to  the  age  of  the  patriarchs  the  gulf  has  wid- 
ened into  a  millennium.  To  a  writing  composed 
under  such  circumstances  (there  is  absolutely  no 
proof  that  it  was  so  composed — Munhall),  it  is 
manifestly  impossible  to  ascribe  a  strictly  histori- 
cal character. "    Pp.  Ill,  112. 

CONCERNING  THE  GOSPELS 

"We  must  make  room  for  a  possible  inter- 
mingling of  legend  with  history  in  the  Gospel 
narrative.' '    P.  142. 

"After  the  most  patient  and  prolonged  investi- 
gation, Christian  scholarship  (sic.)  seems  now  to 
be  finally  settled  down  to  the  judgment  that  be- 
hind the  first  three  Gospels,  in  the  form  in  which 
we  now  possess  them,  there  lie  at  least  three  main 
sources  from  which  they  have  been  compiled. " 
P.  132. 

He  approves  Dr.  Denney's  statement:  "Many 
of  the  fulfilments  of  prophecy  referred  to  in  the 
First  Gospel  have  for  us  neither  intellectual  nor 
religious  value."    P.  97. 

AS  TO  MIRACLES 

"Every  student  of  the  four  Gospels  knows  the 
miraculous  incidents  in  our  Lord's  life  are  not 
all  equally  attested,  and,  as  Dr.  Sanday  has 
pointed  out,  that  the  apparition  of  the  dead  on 
the  day  of  the  crucifixion  (Matt.  27:52)  (The 
resurrection  spoken  of  here  did  not  take  place  "on 
the  day  of  the  crucifixion,"  but  "after  His  resur- 


OUR  EDUCATIONAL  INSTITUTIONS      61 

rection."  Great  biblical  scholars  these. — Mun- 
hall.)  belongs  just  to  that  stratum  which  carries 
with  it  the  least  weight."  P.  130. 

"Unless  we  are  prepared  to  admit  varying  de- 
grees of  certainty  in  the  miraculous  stories  of 
the  Bible,  we  must  abandon  all  idea  of  making 
good  our  defence  on  grounds  of  evidence,  and  en- 
trench ourselves  as  best  we  can  in  the  old  fort 
of  biblical  infallibility.' '    P.  129. 

He  discounts  the  records  of  the  sun  standing 
still;  crossing  of  the  Red  Sea;  Sampson  slaying 
1,000  Philistines ;  falling  of  walls  of  Jericho ;  mak- 
ing the  axe  to  swim,  etc.  Concerning  the  giving 
of  manna  he  says:  "It  belongs  to  symbolical  his- 
tory rather  than  to  history  proper.  .  .  .  The 
story  is  a  symbol  of  the  historic  truth  that  in  this 
barren  environment  and  trying  period  of  their 
history  Jehovah  amply  provided  all  that  was 
needed  for  the  welfare  of  His  people.  The  narra- 
tive of  Elijah  and  the  ravens  belongs  to  the  same 
category."    P.  147. 

He  disposes  of  the  case  of  Peter  catching  a  fish 
with  a  coin  in  its  mouth  in  this  fashion:  "Is  it 
not  far  more  natural  to  suppose  that  Christ's 
words  were  simply  a  bit  of  playful  banter  ad- 
dressed to  Peter,  the  fisherman,  reminding  him 
that  a  simple  catch  in  the  lake  hard  by  and  a  sale 
in  the  Caperneum  market  would  solve  the  whole 
difficulty."    P.  142. 

He  commends  this  saying  of  Dr.  Forsyth:  "The 
evidential  value  of  miracles  is  quite  gone.  They 
are  no  more  a  part  of  Christianity." 


62        BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

THE  BIBLE   NOT  AUTHORITY 

"It  is  no  longer  possible  to  use  a  text — any 
text,  every  text  at  its  face  value.  It  must  be  first 
appraised,  and  perhaps  discounted  before  it  can 
be  offered  as  legal  tender."    P.  108. 

"No  modern  theologian  would  dream  of  fortify- 
ing his  conclusions  by  heaping  together  a  number 
of  proof  texts  in  the  fashion  we  find,  for  example, 
in  Rom.  iii  :  10-18.  St.  Paul  sometimes  quotes  the 
Old  Testament  with  entire  disregard  for  the  orig- 
inal context,  and  even  puts  into  its  words  a  mean- 
ing exactly  opposite  to  that  which  they  originally 
possessed.  .  .  Only  a  preacher  with  a  bad  exe- 
getical  conscience  would  take  St.  Paul  for  his 
example."    P.  99. 

JESUS  AND  THE  APOSTLES  NOT  AUTHORITY 

"We  must  maintain  the  limitations  of  the  knowl- 
edge of  Jesus,  alike  in  the  interests  of  a  true 
Christology  and  of  intellectual  liberty."    P.  168. 

"The  authority  of  a  particular  Psalm,  the  lit- 
erary character  of  a  book  of  the  Old  Testament, 
for  example,  are  not  questions  that  can  be  deter- 
mined by  the  words  of  an  Apostle;  they  cannot 
be  determined,  with  all  reverence  be  it  said,  by 
the  Words  of  Jesus  Himself."    P.  97. 

"When  I  am  told  that  the  Bible  is,  in  a  sense 
that  belongs  to  no  other  book,  the  Word  of  God, 
I  cannot  receive  the  saying  merely  on  the  author- 
ity of  another,  not  even  of  the  Apostles,  nor  Christ 
Himself." 

"It  is  now  admitted   on  all  hands — the  few 


OUR  EDUCATIONAL  INSTITUTIONS      63 

protesting  voices  do  but  emphasize  the  general 
consent  (a  presumptuous  falsehood — Munhall) — 
that  Christ's  authority  cannot  be  invoked  to  in- 
validate the  findings  of  modern  biblical  criticism. 
If  in  his  references  to  the  Old  Testament,  in  mat- 
ters of  authoriship  and  the  like,  our  Lord  assumes 
a  point  of  view  which  later  investigation  shows  to 
be  untenable,  we  no  longer  imagine  that  by  an  ap- 
peal to  Him  we  can  reverse  the  verdict  of  the 
facts."    P.  167. 

Once  Delaware  was  distinguished  for  its  spir- 
itual atmosphere.  Christian  young  people  who 
matriculated  there  were  not  only  immune  from 
scepticism,  but  were  quite  certain  to  be  confirmed 
in  their  faith  and  have  their  spiritual  life  enlarged 
and  intensified ;  and  the  unchristian  students  were 
more  than  likely  to  be  converted  and  saved. 

But  all  this  is  now  changed.  However,  could 
it  be  otherwise?  The  glad  Hallelujahs  for  signal 
victories  through  the  "Blood  of  the  Cross"  that 
so  many  times  were  heard  in  the  halls  of  Ohio 
Wesleyan,  and  which  was  her  chief  glory,  are  sel- 
dom, if  ever,  heard. 

One  of  our  district  superintendents  recently  said 
to  me:  "I  sent  my  daughter  to  Ohio  Wesleyan 
an  earnest  Christian ;  they  wrecked  her  faith  and 
she  is  now  an  agnostic." 

I  say,  with  all  the  vigor  I  can  put  into  the  words, 
it  were  infinitely  better  that  every  so-called  Meth- 
odist educational  institution  should  go  into  hope- 
less bankruptcy  than  that  one  such  case  should 
occur :  and  there  are  doubtless  hundreds  of  them, 


64        BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

for  an  atmosphere  of  faith  and  soul-destroying 
scepticism  pervades  most  of  our  Methodist  schools. 

A  large  number  of  these  educators  now  admit 
the  fact  that  many  young  people  coming  to  their 
halls  lose  their  faith  in  the  Bible  as  the  Word 
of  God,  but  they  insist  they  are  not  to  blame ;  that 
the  trouble  is  in  the  teaching  of  home  and  Sunday 
school,  where  the  old  ideas  of  Methodism  and  our 
fathers  and  mothers  are  being  taught,  and  when 
they  go  to  college  and  hear  about  the  ''Newer 
learning"  (sic)  they  lose  faith  in  their  father's 
God  and  their  mother's  Bible.  As  a  remedy  for 
it  all  they  insist  the  "Newer  learning"  must  be 
taught  in  home  and  Sunday  school,  and  this  will 
relieve  the  colleges  of  the  responsibility  of  making 
infidels  of  our  young  people.  And  so,  according 
to  this  edict,  mothers  and  fathers  who  do  not  ac- 
cept the  infidel  teachings  of  the  higher  critics  are 
not  competent  to  teach  their  own  children,  and 
no  one  should  be  allowed  to  teach  in  our  Sunday 
schools  who  is  not  an  avowed  disciple  of  Kuenen, 
Wellhausen,  Eichorn,  Astruc,  et  al. 

The  late  Bishop  Charles  H.  Fowler  once  said: 
"It  may  seem  a  severe  thing  for  a  Methodist 
bishop,  and  one  who  has  been  president  of  one 
of  our  largest  universities  to  say,  but  nevertheless 
I  believe  it  to  be  true  that  the  schools  and  univer 
sities  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  belong 
more  to  the  devil  to-day  than  they  do  to  our 
Church." 

Some  time  ago  I  had  occasion  to  ask  a  president 
of  a  prominent  Methodist  college:  "Why  do  we 


OUR  EDUCATIONAL  INSTITUTIONS      65 

not  have  revivals  in  Methodist  schools  as  we  nsed 
to?"  He  made  the  following  reply:  "We  are  not 
running  reformatories  now."  I  then  asked: 
"When  addressing  conferences,  preachers'  meet- 
ings and  Methodist  congregations,  and  appealing 
to  them  for  sympathy,  money  and  students  do  you 
tell  them  that?"  He  said:  "Certainly  not."  I 
then  said  to  him:  "If  you  get  any  response  to 
your  appeal  you  are  obtaining  money  under  false 
pretenses." 

Most  of  the  money  with  which  these  schools  were 
built  and  endowed  would  never  have  been  given 
had  the  donors  known  what  is  now  being  taught 
in  the  great  majority  of  them.  It  is  a  base  be- 
trayal of  a  sacred  trust,  and  the  betrayers  glory 
in  their  shame. 


CHAPTER  IV 
OUR  SCHOOLS  OF  THEOLOGY 

"That  we  may  be  no  longer  children,  tossed  to  and  fro  and  car- 
ried about  with  every  wind  of  doctrine,  by  the  sleight  of  men,  in 
craftiness,  after  the  wiles  of  error."  Eph.  iv  :  14.  "  For  the  time 
will  come  when  they  will  not  endure  the  sound  doctrine;  but,  hav- 
ing itching  ears,  will  heap  to  themselves  teachers  after  their  own 
lusts;  and  will  turn  away  their  ears  from  the  truth,  and  turn  aside 
unto  fables."    2  Tim.  iv  :  3,  4. 

T  T  is  said  that  when  Bishop  Ames  was  on  his 
*  death-bed  he  made  this  remark:  "I  fear  that 
our  theological  schools  will  give  us  trouble."  If 
he  could  see  the  condition  to-day,  no  doubt,  he 
would  realize  that  his  fears  were  well  founded. 

Presumably  the  object  of  these  schools  is  to 
qualify  men  for  the  ministry  of  the  Word.  Of 
course  a  pastor  has  many  other  things  to  do  be- 
sides expounding  the  Word  of  God,  but  that  is  his 
chief  business  if  he  is  a  minister  of  Jesus  Christ. 
In  view  of  the  transcendent  importance  of  his 
mission  all  sensible  people  are  agreed  that  the 
wisest  and  most  thorough  preparation  is  fully  jus- 
tified— indeed,  indispensable — and  therefore  these 
schools  have  been  built  and  endowed,  and  are  ap- 
proved and  heartily  encouraged.  If  they  were 
true  to  the  object  had  in  view  by  their  founders, 

66 


OUR  SCHOOLS  OF  THEOLOGY         67 

and  loyal  to  the  Word  of  God  and  the  doctrines 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  they  would 
have  a  perfect  right  to  expect  hearty  sympathy 
and  continued  generous  support  from  all  good 
Methodists,  and  would  most  surely  receive  it ;  but, 
sad  to  relate,  the  most  influential  of  these  schools 
are  disloyal  to  the  Word  of  God  and  the  doctrines 
of  Methodism,  and  are  therefore  not  entitled  to 
the  sympathy  and  support  of  the  Church. 

Fourteen  years  ago  I  addressed  the  Chicago 
Methodist  Preachers'  Meeting.  In  that  address 
I  said,  "There  are  two  Methodist  Theological 
Schools  where  the  so-called  higher  criticism  is 
taught."  President  Little,  who  was  present,  in 
addressing  the  meeting,  said,  "I  am  sure  Garrett 
Biblical  Institute  is  not  one  of  the  schools  to  which 
Dr.  Munhall  refers;  for  we  believe  and  teach  the 
Bible  and  the  doctrines  of  Methodism." 

Three  years  later  in  the  Chicago  Tribune  of 
April  26th,  1902,  President  Little  is  reported  to 
have  said: 

"It  is  true  that  he — Prof.  Horswell — teaches 
higher  criticism  and  has  been  attacked  for  it.  But 
he  fills  a  position  where  attacks  must  be  expected, 
and  higher  criticism  is  taught  throughout  the 
school.  We  are  compelled  to  teach  it.  Students 
ask  questions  that  must  be  answered,  and  we  must 
answer  them  in  the  only  logical  way.  Many  stu- 
dents have  come  to  me  with  complaints  that  Pro- 
fessor Horswell  is  teaching  heresy,  but  upon  ex- 
amination I  have  always  found  that  they  were 
mistaken  and  that  the  professor's  views  were  not 


68        BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

altogether  different  from  those  of  the  remainder 
of  us." 

If  President  Little  is  here  correctly  reported, 
we  not  only  have  a  frank  admission  that  the 
"higher  criticism  is  taught  throughout  the 
school, ' '  but  also  a  statement  that  they  are  ' '  com- 
pelled to  teach  it.  Students  ask  questions,"  etc., 
etc.;  all  of  which  is  startling,  if  true.  Obliged 
to  teach  that  the  Bible  is  not  infallible,  trustworthy 
or  authoritative,  because  some  students  ask  ques- 
tions! I,  for  one,  do  not  believe  that  this  is  the 
real  reason  why  the  higher  criticism  is  taught  in 
Garrett  and  other  of  our  Church  schools.  The 
real  reason  is  that  these  teachers  believe  higher 
criticism,  and  desire  to  make  converts  to  their 
way  of  thinking. 

Prof.  Horswell  was  a  member  of  the  Des  Moines 
Annual  Conference,  which  in  a  most  emphatic 
manner  condemned  his  teachings  in  Garrett.  He 
shortly  afterwards  quit  the  school. 

My  statement  that  higher  criticism  was  being 
taught  in  two  Methodist  schools  (I  meant  Boston 
and  Evanston)  was  denied  by  Pres.  Little  of  Gar- 
rett ;  but  in  less  than  three  years  freely  admitted ; 
and  no  one  now  will  for  one  moment  deny  it. 

The  last  session  of  the  Rock  River  Conference 
was  held  in  Evanston,  October  2-8,  1912,  inclu- 
sive. Bishop  William  F.  McDowell  presided. 
Both  he  and  Dr.  Charles  M.  Stuart,  President  of 
Garrett  Biblical  Institute,  delivered  addresses, 
Sunday  afternoon,  in  the  First  Methodist  Church, 
at  the  Ordination  Service.    Three  young  men  were 


OUR  SCHOOLS  OF  THEOLOGY         69 

ordained  as  Deacons,  and  eleven  as  Elders.  Dr. 
Stuart,  according  to  the  Daily  Inter-Ocean  of  Octo- 
ber 7th,  among  other  things,  said : 

"  'Criticism  has  changed  public  opinion  about 
many  matters — once  deemed  primary,  now  seen  to 
be  of  subsidiary  importance.  It  is  not  now  thought 
to  be  necessary  to  one's  salvation  that  he  shall 
believe  the  world  to  have  been  created  in  six  days 
of  twenty-four  hours  each,  or  that  woman  was 
created  from  the  ribs  of  man,  or  that  the  deluge 
was  universal,  or  that  the  waters  of  the  Red  Sea 
separated  at  the  word  of  Moses. 

"  'One  may  still  have  fellowship  with  God  and 
surmise  that  the  Pentateuch  was  not  written  by 
Moses,  that  the  Levitical  legislation  was  post- 
exilian,  that  the  Book  of  Isaiah  is  of  composite 
authorship,  that  the  Book  of  Daniel  is  a  story  to 
illustrate  how  God  keeps  watch  over  His  own,  that 
the  Book  of  Job  is  a  dramatic  putting  of  the  prob- 
lem of  evil  in  the  world,  and  that  Jonah  is  an  alle- 
gory setting  forth  the  universality  of  God's  love. 

"  'We  may  even  go  farther  than  that.  We  may 
admit  that  the  Bible  as  we  have  it  is  a  book  derived 
from  secondary  sources;  that  the  autographs  of 
the  evangelists  and  apostles  have  been  irrevocably 
lost,  that  there  are  omissions  and  interpolations, 
glosses  and  misreadings  numerous  enough  to  be 
discouraging,  that  genealogies  and  chronologies 
are  hopelessly  confused,  and  that  there  are  dis- 
crepancies of  statement  about  matters  of  fact 
which  are  not  to  be  reconciled. 

"  'I  say  we  may  admit  all  that,  and  still  realize 


70        BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

that  in  its  central  feature  of  its  commission  as 
a  veritable  word  of  God  is  so  full,  so  final,  so  clear- 
cut,  so  intelligent,  so  authoritative,  that  the  way- 
faring man  has  to  be  a  superabundant  fool  who 
seriously  errs  with  respect  to  it.'  " 

There  are  over  100  theological  students  at 
Evanston.  They  were  doubtless  present  and  heard 
these  utterances.  The  air  to-day  is  full  of  scepti- 
cism. Our  leaders,  Bishops,  Editors,  Agents, 
Preachers,  are  more  responsible  for  it  than  all  the 
infidels  outside  the  Church.  False  to  ordination 
vows,  and  the  most  sacred  trusts,  they  seem  to 
have  united  in  a  mad  propaganda  to  wreck  Meth- 
odism. Is  it  any  wonder  our  pews  are  empty, 
and  our  altars  deserted! 

The  uniform  teaching  of  this  school  is  admitted- 
ly in  harmony  with  these  antibiblical  and  un-Meth- 
odistic  utterances  of  its  president,  as  can  be  easily 
proven  by  the  published  writings  of  members  of 
the  faculty,  notably  those  of  Professors  Milton  S. 
Terry  and  Charles  F.  Eiselin. 

When  these  gentlemen  were  ordained  deacons 
in  the  Methodist  Church  the  Bishop  asked,  "Do 
you  unfeignedly  believe  all  the  canonical  Scrip- 
tures of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments?" 

They  answered,  "I  do  believe  them." 

The  Bishop  then  asked,  "Will  you  diligently 
read  or  expound  the  same  unto  the  people  whom 
you  shall  be  appointed  to  serve?" 

They  answered,  "I  will." 

When  ordained  elders,  the  Bishop  asked,  "Are 
you  persuaded  that  the  Holy  Scriptures  contain 


OUR  SCHOOLS  OF  THEOLOGY         71 

sufficiently  all  doctrine  required  of  necessity  for 
eternal  salvation  through  faith  in  Jesus  Christ? 
And  are  you  determined  out  of  said  Scriptures 
to  instruct  the  people  committed  to  your  charge, 
and  to  teach  nothing  as  required  of  necessity  to 
eternal  salvation  but  that  which  you  shall  be  per- 
suaded may  be  concluded  and  proved  by  the  Scrip- 
tures t" 

They  answered,  "I  am  so  persuaded,  and  have 
so  determined,  by  God's  grace.' ' 

The  Bishop  again  asked,  "Will  you  be  ready 
with  all  faithful  diligence  to  banish  and  drive  away 
all  erroneous  and  strange  doctrines  contrary  to 
God's  Word,"  etc.? 

They  replied,  "I  will,  the  Lord  being  my 
helper. ' ' 

Also,  every  Methodist  preacher  is  under  solemn 
obligations  to  keep  the  General  Eules  of  the 
Church.  In  paragraph  33  of  these  rules  we  read, 
"All  of  which  [the  rules]  we  are  taught  of  God 
to  observe,  even  in  His  Written  Word,  which  is 
the  only  rule,  and  the  sufficient  rule,  both  of  our 
faith  and  practice. ' ' 

'These  gentlemen  would  never  have  received  or- 
dination without  making  these  solemn  subscrip- 
tions. And,  now  they  not  only  do  not  keep  these 
solemn  vows,  but  are  themselves  promulgating 
"Erroneous  and  strange  doctrines  contrary  to 
God's  Word,"  and  teaching  the  rising  ministry 
to  do  the  same,  the  while  they  eat  the  Churches' 
bread.  Since  our  Articles  of  Eeligion  cannot  be 
constitutionally  changed,  such  procedure  is  noth- 


72        BREAKERS !  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

ing  less  than  ecclesiastical  anarchy.     One  result 
of  higher  criticism  is  to  obtund  the  moral  sense. 
The  following  petition  explains  itself: 

To  the  Trustees  of  Boston  University: 

"We,  the  undersigned  students  of  Boston  School 
of  Theology,  respectfully  submit  to  you  this  peti- 
tion. We  ask  an  investigation  into  the  teachings 
of  the  Department  of  Old  Testament  Exegesis, 
especially  as  to  its  bearing  on  Christology;  and 
in  justification  of  this  petition  we  enclose  a  limited 
number  of  representative  statements  by  students, 
together  with  a  history  of  the  movement  of  which 
this  petition  is  the  result.  The  autograph  copies 
of  the  enclosed  statements,  together  with  others 
of  a  similar  character,  are  in  our  hands. 

"As  students,  we  feel  that  we  have  a  grievance. 
We  came  to  Boston  School  of  Theology  expecting 
from  all  representations  to  be  prepared  for  Meth- 
odist Pulpits  in  Methodist  and  Christian  Doctrine. 
We  have  grown  more  than  suspicious  that  the  sub- 
tle influence  of  the  teaching  received  in  the  above- 
mentioned  Department  leans  far  toward  Unitari- 
anism  and  Naturalism.  We  cannot  help  resenting 
this,  not  alone  for  our  own  sakes,  but  for  the  sake 
of  the  School  and  the  Church.  Other  young  men 
are  preparing  to  come  here.  If  things  are  to  go 
on  as  they  are,  ought  not  these  young  men  at  least 
have  a  choice  as  to  the  general  character  of  the 
instruction  which  is  to  shape  their  lives.  Ought 
they  be  allowed  innocently  and  ignorantly  to  walk 
into  disappointment?  Many  men  now  in  school 
have  felt  this  to  be  their  experience,  and  in  con- 


OUR  SCHOOLS  OF  THEOLOGY         73 

sequence  a  number  are  making  arrangements  to 
finish  their  course  elsewhere.  Ought  our  School 
to  be  willing  to  remain  silent  when  to  do  so  means 
to  mislead  a  large  per  cent  of  the  students  who 
come  to  her?  We  feel,  and  fell  deeply  that  some- 
thing should  be  done.  These  are  not  the  convic- 
tions of  a  day,  but  in  the  case  of  many  of  us,  have 
come  at  the  end  of  a  long  struggle  to  keep  on  our 
feet  intellectually  and  spiritually,  and  save  our- 
selves from  scepticism  and  despair. 

"  We  believe  the  investigation  we  ask  for  is  just 
in  any  case.  Either  the  teaching  of  Prof.  Mitchell 
is  misunderstood,  or  it  is  unsound.  In  the  former 
case  he  ought  to  be  vindicated  and  placed  in  a 
true  light  before  the  Church;  in  the  latter,  the 
Church  ought  to  know  the  facts,  that  she  may  act 
accordingly. 

1 '  Should  the  objection  be  raised  that  Prof.  Mitch- 
ell's  Department  is  not  Dogmatics  but  Exegesis, 
we  plead  that  Exegesis  cannot  be  separated  from 
Doctrine,  and  that  under  the  cover  of  Exegesis 
unsound  doctrines  are  vastly  more  dangerous  and 
more  misleading  than  when  explicitly  stated  in  a 
class  in  Dogmatics.  Therefore  do  we  present  this 
petition.  We,  as  students  of  the  Middle  and  Senior 
Classes  (the  Junior  Class  having  as  yet  had  no 
critical  work  under  Prof.  Mitchell),  would  welcome 
nothing  more  than  a  full  and  impartial  investiga- 
tion under  the  auspices  of  your  Honorable  Body. 

(Signed)  Respectfully  submitted, 

Benjamin  Rist,  E.  K.  Smith,  H.  H.  Critchlow,  T. 
A.  Wilson,  Chris.  F.  Reisner,  Ambrie  Field,  Ed- 


74        BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

win  H.  Hadlock,  Jerome  Greer,  Joseph  E.  Houl- 
gate,  Edwin  S.  Collier,  H.  G.  Curless,  Howard  H. 
Scott,  J.  E.  Cope,  E.  M.  Crandall,  G.  H.  Myers, 
Albert  C.  Kmidson,  F.  I.  Johnson,  Elmer  E.  Noble, 
F.  E.  Ayers,  George  R.  Grose,  F.  L.  Strickland, 
Jr.,  Chas.  C.  Elson,  Chas.  A.  Tighe,  Everett  M. 
Hill,  S.  E.  Grant,  Fay  Donaldson,  W.  N.  Mason, 
B.  McCarty,  H.  C.  Millington,  E.  0.  Bullock,  S.  L. 
Stewart,  Jay  Kirkendall,  W.  F.  Taylor,  Chas.  Tel- 
ford Erickson,  E.  V.  Hinchliffe,  J.  E.  Johnson, 
Geo.  H.  Geyer,  C.  A.  Bowen. 
March  15,  1895. 

This  petition  was  passed  over  and  silenced.  But 
it  gave  trustworthy  information  as  to  just  what 
kind  of  teaching  was  done  in  the  Boston  Univer- 
sity School  of  Theology. 

Four  years  later  the  following  petition  was 
made  : 

To  President  W.  F.  Warren,  and  the  Trustees  of 
Boston  University: 

"We,  the  undersigned  students  of  Boston  Uni- 
versity School  of  Theology,  respectfully  present 
the  following  statement  for  your  consideration : 

"We  believe  that  the  teachings  in  the  depart- 
ment of  Old  Testament  Exegesis  are  decidedly 
detrimental  to  the  best  interests  of  the  University, 
as  well  as  out  of  sympathy  and  harmony  with  the 
fundamental  teachings  of  our  Church.  We  pro- 
test against  a  narrow,  one-sided  presentation  of 
views,  concerning  the  Old  Testament.  The  ration- 
alistic and  destructive  view  held  by  the  Higher 


OUR  SCHOOLS  OF  THEOLOGY         75 

Critics  is  presented  to  the  almost  entire  exclusion 
of  others.  "We  call  attention  to  the  following 
points  in  the  teachings  of  Dr.  H.  G.  Mitchell : 

"The  impression  made  upon  us  is  that  his  teach- 
ings about  Jesus  Christ  are  essentially  Unitarian. 
He  denies  the  omniscience  of  Christ.  He  holds 
that  we  are  not  compelled  to  accept  the  statements 
of  Christ  with  reference  to  the  Old  Testament, 
and  that  no  argument  can  be  based  upon  them. 
He  states  that  belief  in  the  Deity  of  Jesus  Christ 
is  not  necessary  to  salvation,  and  that  a  man  can 
be  saved  through  believing  in  other  men  without 
any  knowledge  of  or  teaching  about  Christ.  That 
it  was  not  a  part  of  God's  redemptive  plan  that 
Christ  should  die  for  the  salvation  of  the  race. 
That  the  vicarious  sufferings  of  Christ  were  not 
necessary  to  the  salvation  of  men.  That  Christ's 
death  was  simply  the  culminatory  act  of  His  life. 
He  holds  that  no  prophet  of  the  Old  Testament 
knew  anything  about  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ. 
That  the  prophets  did  not  prophesy  of  any  event 
not  having  its  causes  in  the  local  conditions  of 
their  own  time.  He  minimizes  or  calls  in  question 
the  miraculous  elements  of  the  Old  Testament.  He 
treats  as  mythical  the  persons  and  history  of  the 
Ante-Deluvian  Patriarchs  and  questions  the  exist- 
ence of  Noah  and  Isaac.  He  holds  that  the  Sab- 
bath is  not  of  Divine  origin.  He  accepts  and 
teaches  the  general  positions  of  the  Wellhausen 
School  with  reference  to  the  Pentateuch  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  all  others.  His  teachings  with  reference 
to  the  authorship  and  credibility  of  most  of  the 


76        BREAKERS !  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

books  of  the  Old  Testament  are  destructive  rather 
than  constructive. 

Dr.  Mitchell  says  that  we  misunderstand  him 
with  reference  to  the  teachings  to  which  exception 
is  taken.  This  may  be,  but  it  seems  singular  to 
us  that  scores  of  students  should  have  misunder- 
stood him,  year  after  year,  for  at  least  the  past 
six  years,  covered  by  the  enclosed  evidence.  In 
any  case  the  effect  is  the  same,  whether  he  is  mis- 
understood or  not.  The  strongest  evidence  of  this 
is  furnished  by  those  students  who  accept  and  de- 
fend his  views.  Professor  Mitchell  will  make  a 
general  statement  which  seems  correct;  but  will 
follow  it  with  reservations  and  negations  until  the 
first  statement  is  practically  destroyed.  He  does 
this  on  some  of  the  most  vital  points  of  doctrine. 
By  this  means,  his  statements  can  be  given  a 
double  interpretation,  and  leave  it  so  that  he  can 
either  affirm  or  deny  them.  Dr.  Mitchell  recom- 
mends the  students  to  read  the  conservative  side, 
but  when  asked  whom  to  read  he  proceeds  at  once 
to  discredit  nearly  every  scholar  who  disagrees 
with  him,  including  such  scholars  as  Sayce,  Hom- 
mel,  Lange  and  Harman. 

"The  effect  of  these  teachings  upon  the  students 
is  that  while  some  reject,  a  large  percentage  of 
them  accept  these  views  in  the  main,  while  some 
go  much  further.  A  distinctly  Unitarian  element 
is  being  thus  introduced  into  the  Methodist  Church. 
If  this  is  allowed  to  continue  we  believe  it  will 
prove  disastrous  to  the  cause  of  Christ.  This  we 
think  is  illustrated  by  the  history  of  the  Congre- 


OUE  SCHOOLS  OF  THEOLOGY         77 

gational  Churches  of  New  England. — Signed: 
Harcourt  W.  Peck,  William  W.  Shenk,  Oliver  L. 
Utter,  George  A.  Pegram,  Eli  M.  Paddleford, 
James  R.  Ross,  George  W.  Coultas,  Ernest  E. 
Wareing,  Orion  L.  Griswold.,, 

All  who  signed  this  statement  had  taken  the 
Senior  or  Middle  Hebrew  or  both  under  Dr. 
Mitchell. 

In  face  of  this  Prof.  Mitchell  was  unanimously 
re-elected  by  the  Board  of  Trustees  for  another 
five  years,  and  confirmed  by  the  Board  of  Bishops ; 
and  the  students  were  peremptorily  ordered  to 
desist  from  further  agitation  of  the  matter.  This, 
two  of  the  petitioners  and  seven  other  students 
refused  to  do,  by  addressing  the  following  com- 
munication to  the  authorities  and  withdrawing 
from  the  school : 

DECLARATION  OF  PRINCIPLES  AND  WITHDRAWAL 

Boston  University  School  of  Theology, 

Nov.  15,  1899. 
"President  "Warren  and  Faculty  of  the  School  of 
Theology : — 
' '  Your  communication  of  Nov.  13,  singled  out 
to  a  portion  of  the  signers  of  this  declaration  and 
signed  by  yourself  and  Prof.  H.  C.  Sheldon,  Sec'y, 
is  received.  Its  official  notification  is  also  ac- 
cepted, by  the  rest  of  the  signers  of  this  declara- 
tion, as  enjoining  them  as  well,  'to  abstain  from 
further  agitation  of  matters  now  pending,  and  to 
submit  faithfully  to  any  decisions  which  may  be 
rendered  by  the  authorities,'  while  we  remain  as 


78        BREAKERS !  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

students  of  the  institution.  In  other  words,  this 
ultimatum  demands  of  us  that  we  either  smother 
our  convictions  and  compromise  our  integrity  by 
remaining  in  the  institution  under  silence,  or  else 
accept  the  other  alternative,  however  reluctantly 
it  appeals  to  our  personal  feelings  and  involves  us 
in  individual  inconvenience.  Since,  then,  no  choice 
remains  except  the  other  alternative,  alone  toler- 
able to  us  and  in  consistency  with  past  action  and 
present  conviction,  therefore  we  do  hereby  sever 
our  connection,  as  students,  with  this  institution. 
This  action  rests  explicitly  upon  the  following  con- 
siderations : 

"1.  The  re-election  of  Prof.  Mitchell  on  Nov. 
13,  by  the  Board  of  Trustees,  both  in  point  of  time 
and  in  the  manner  of  events  leading  thereto,  sig- 
nifies a  continuance  of  his  destructive  teaching 
in  Boston  University  School  of  Theology. 

"2.  "We  have  done  our  utmost  to  inform  the 
authorities  of  the  School  of  the  facts  of  his  class 
room  work  and  have  communicated  to  them  our 
purpose  to  give  the  church  these  facts,  if  Prof. 
Mitchell  should  be  retained  in  his  present  posi- 
tion. 

"3.  The  School  of  Theology  is  now  practically 
committed  to  Prof.  Mitchell's  destructive  teach- 
ing, and  the  church  has  a  right  to  know  what  he 
teaches.  The  most  charitable  construction  we  are 
able  to  place  upon  this  re-election,  in  the  light  of 
the  notification  from  the  faculty  enjoining  upon 
us  silence,  cannot  commission  the  School  to  re- 
ceive our  young  ministry  from  every  quarter  of 


OUR  SCHOOLS  OF  THEOLOGY  79 

the  church  and  return  them  again  to  our  Meth- 
odist pulpits  and  absolve  the  school  from  all  re- 
sponsibility for  the  teaching  of  Prof.  Mitchell,  or 
give  it  a  grant  of  secrecy  for  his  class  room  work. 

"4.  Having  exhausted  every  available  means 
directly  with  the  authorities  of  the  School  for  the 
correction  of  this  destructive  teaching,  we  now, 
by  the  affixing  of  our  several  names,  record  our 
personal  protest  against  the  continuance  of  a  form 
of  teaching  essentially  unmethodistic  and  destruc- 
tive, in  one  of  our  Methodist  schools. 

"5.  We  protest  against  the  endorsement  of  the 
doubts  of  rationalism  and  the  favoritism  shown 
the  specious  presumptions  of  Unitarianism,  insin- 
uated under  the  name  of  truth  into  the  theological 
thinking  of  our  Methodist  ministry. 

"6.  We  protest  against  a  destructive  criticism 
that  considers  of  no  authoritative  worth  the  testi- 
mony of  Jesus  Christ  with  regard  to  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, and  claims  to  supersede  fundamental  doc- 
trines of  Paul's  theology  with  a  new  and  better 
theology. 

"7.  We  protest  against  the  uncertainty  given 
to  the  Gospel  message  by  the  scepticism  raised 
regarding  its  Divine  credentials,  namely,  those 
significant  in  Messianic  prophecy,  the  theophanies 
of  the  Bible,  the  essential  Godhead  of  Jesus  Christ 
and  the  necessary  work  of  His  atonement. 

"8.  We  protest  against  the  propagation  of  this 
teaching  in  the  name  of  scholarship,  because  this 
teaching  undertakes  a  denial  of  the  authority  of 


80        BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 


the  Sacred  Scriptures,  exalting  the  authority  of 
the  human  consciousness  above  the  same. 

"9.  We  protest  against  the  deteriorating  effect 
of  these  teachings  upon  the  evangelical  spirit  of 
our  beloved  Methodism,  and  the  introduction  of 
an  element  into  our  ministry  adverse  to  the  old 
time  revival  fervor,  and  the  holy  unction  insepar- 
able from  a  union  of  conviction  and  faith. 

"10.  We  declare  it  to  be  an  injustice  to  place 
professors  in  the  faculty  who  are  in  accord  with 
few  or  none  of  the  destructive  views  of  Prof. 
Mitchell  under  common  embarrassment  because 
of  his  specific  teaching,  and  also  to  put  the  grad- 
uates of  the  institution  under  suspicion  upon  en- 
tering their  conferences. 

"11.  We  believe  that  a  proper  sense  of  fidelity 
and  honor  on  the  part  of  Prof.  Mitchell  should 
lead  him  to  perceive  that  he  holds  an  anomalous 
attitude  to  the  School,  out  of  harmony  with  its 
publicly  assumed  position,  and  in  strange  relation 
to  his  vows  as  a  Methodist  preacher,  and  that, 
being  a  discrediting  influence  among  his  colleagues 
and  a  disturbing  factor  in  Methodism,  he  ought 
to  see  the  fitness  of  voluntary  resignation  from 
his  present  position. 

"12.  We  express  our  unfeigned  regret  that  this 
school  should  not  present  a  more  loyal  and  inspir- 
ing front  against  the  weakening  influences  of  Unit- 
arianism,  Universalism  and  liberalism,  in  this  cul- 
tured center,  where,  of  all  places,  Methodism 
should  hold  an  impregnable,  masterful  and  con- 
quering position. 


OUR  SCHOOLS  OF  THEOLOGY         81 


a  ■ 


13.  "We  contend  for  a  scholarship  that  does 
not  come  to  the  examination  of  the  Holy  Word 
with  postulated  presupposition  against  its  super- 
natural character;  but,  rather,  with  the  closest, 
most  penetrating  and  luminous  investigation,  in- 
clusive of  its  spiritual  import  and  life,  sets  forth 
the  eternal  verities  contained  therein  in  such  a 
way  as  to  disclose  its  supernatural  characteristics 
in  all  their  guarantee  of  heavenly  righteousness 
for  men  here  and  surety  of  the  felicitous  life  to 
come,  so  that  its  truth  may  run  and  encompass 
the  whole  earth  with  the  kingdom  of  our  Lord. 

"14.  We  here  record  our  conviction  that  the 
time  has  come  for  Methodism  to  reaffirm,  definite- 
ly and  positively,  the  fundamentals  of  her  faith 
and  polity,  before  this  destructive  movement,  now 
so  strongly  setting  in,  shall  have  insidiously 
sapped  the  vitality  of  her  doctrines  and  left  her 
little  more  than  a  helpless  human  mechanism,  lack- 
ing in  the  fullness  and  supernatural  life  of  the 
Holy  spirit. 

"15.  We,  therefore,  as  Methodist  preachers  and 
as  ambassadors  of  Jesus  Christ,  in  loyalty  to  our 
church  which  we  believe  was  reared  for  a  world- 
wide evangelism,  and  in  conformity  to  the  behests 
of  our  conscience,  feel  that  we  cannot  endorse  the 
re-election  of  Prof.  Mitchell,  by  remaining  longer 
in  this  institution;  that  an  acquiescence,  on  our 
part,  and  a  tacit  avowal  of  cessation  from  further 
action  in  this  matter,  would  be  to  compromise  our 
integrity,  to  stifle  our  sense  of  duty,  and  to  make 
still  more  difficult  and  improbable  any  hope  of  re- 


82        BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 


lief  for  the  church  outside  or  correction  within 
the  School. 

"Signed.— W.  W.  Shenk,  0.  L.  Griswold,  B. 
Frank  Neff,  Manly  J.  Munford,  W.  N.  Robertson, 
W.  E.  Verity,  W.  C.  Hartinger,  J.  H.  Elliott,  P. 
P.  Carroll." 

In  1904  Prof.  Mitchell  was  again  re-elected  for 
a  term  of  five  years,  but  the  bishops  by  a  unani- 
mous vote,  refused  to  confirm,  and  he  is  to-day 
teaching  in  a  Universalist  school.  A  year  later 
President  Huntington  in  his  report  said: 

"The  unfortunate  events  of  last  year,  by  which 
the  Faculty  of  this  department  lost  one  of  its  most 
faithful  and  scholarly  members  have  not,  it  is 
hoped,  lessened  the  respect  of  a  large  company 
of  devout  and  scholarly  men  for  this  institution. 
Although  the  wish  of  the  University  was  over- 
ruled, and  ecclesiastical  authority  exercised  its 
veto  power,  nevertheless  the  principles  for  which 
the  University  stood  were  not  abandoned.  Reason- 
able freeedom  of  teaching  is  still  maintained." 

This  is  strange  language  to  come  from  the 
authorities  of  a  Methodist  University.  Here  is 
open  rebellion.  The  President  says:  "The  Facul- 
ty of  this  department  lost  one  of  its  most  faithful 
and  scholarly  men."  Who  was  to  decide  upon  the 
faithfulness  of  Mitchell?  If  he  were  "faithful" 
why  did  not  the  bishops  confirm  him?  Who  is  to 
decide  what  is  "reasonable  freedom  of  teaching?" 
When  elected  and  confirmed,  Professor  Mitchell 
was  under  contract  to  teach  according  to  Meth- 


, 


OUE  SCHOOLS  OF  THEOLOGY         83 

odist  standards  and  the  bishops  are  constituted 
authority  to  determine  that  matter. 

This  is  history;  very  important  history,  that 
should  never  be  forgotten ;  because  it  is  conspicu- 
ously identified  with  the  present,  that  is  to  say, 
the  same  un-Methodistic,  infidel,  soul-destroying 
things  are  taught  in  this  so-called  Methodist  Theo- 
logical Seminary  to-day  as  Prof.  Mitchell  taught 
in  its  halls  before  he  was  deposed  by  Episcopal 
authority. 

Drew  long  withstood  the  insidious  wiles  of 
higher  criticism.  But  five  years  ago  a  student 
writing  me  from  Drew,  said:  "We  get  a  touch 
of  it  here  now  and  then. ' '  For  a  time  the  students 
of  some  of  the  professors  were  told,  in  a  non- 
committal way  what  the  critics  say ;  and  then  the 
other  side  would  not  be  given ;  or  if  given,  it  was 
in  such  a  way  as  to  impress  the  student  with  the 
idea  that  the  higher  critics  were  great  scholars, 
and  their  opinions  must  be  respected.  It  was  not 
so  much  what  was  said,  as  how  it  was  said;  the 
critics  seldom,  if  ever  opposed,  and  the  orthodox 
side  never  emphasized.  Four  years  ago  one  of 
our  bishops  wrote  me  as  follows:  "I  fell  in  with 
Prof.  Rogers  while  busy  with  the  book  ( Hasting 's 
one  vol.  Dictionary),  and  told  him  what  I  thought 
about  it.  He  told  me  that  he  himself  was  a  Higher 
Critic;  and  when  I  asked  him  what  he  meant  by 
Higher  Critic,  he  wriggled  around  and  put  on  airs 
of  supreme  wisdom  and  told  me  that  I  was  not 
competent  to  judge  of  such  matters.  He  told  me 
he  was  a  '  Specialist, '  and  that  he  '  could  judge  of 


84        BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

such  matters  as  I  was  not  able  to  judge.'  I  gave 
him  to  understand  that  I  was  specialist  enough 
to  stand  by  the  genuineness,  authenticity,  in- 
tegrity, authority  and  Divine  inspiration  of  the 
Bible."  Two  other  members  of  the  faculty  at 
Drew,  if  not  four,  are  of  the  same  mind  with  Prof. 
Rogers  in  this  matter,  and  I  know  of  no  one  in 
the  present  faculty  who  is  bearing  a  clear  cut, 
unmistakable  testimony  against  destructive  higher 
criticism,  and  standing  four-square  for  the  doc- 
trines of  Methodism  and  the  historic  faith.  Drew 
is  not  committed  openly  to  higher  criticism  as 
Garrett  and  Boston,  but  occupies  a  shamefully 
compromised  position.  All  of  which  is  unspeak- 
ably sad! 

The  Iliff  School  of  Theology  at  Denver,  Col., 
takes  its  cue  from  Evanston,  and  is  no  better.  .  .  . 
The  two  German  schools,  at  Warrenton,  Mo.,  and 
Berea,  Ohio;  the  Norwegian-Danish  and  Swedish 
at  Evanston,  Ills.;  and  the  Gammon  School  for 
colored  people,  at  Atlanta,  Ga.,  are  as  far  as  I 
know,  doing  good,  faithful  work. 

But,  it  is  asked:  "In  view  of  the  fact  that  the 
instructors  in  these  schools,  who  are  teaching 
higher  criticism,  are  men  of  probity,  how  explain 
the  fact  that  they  are  false  to  their  ordination 
vows  and  obligations  as  teachers  in  Methodist 
Institutions?  They  doubtless  think  they  are  right 
in  the  matter;  but  that  does  not  make  it  right. 
Saul  thought  he  was  doing  God  service  in  holding 
the  clothes  of  those  who  stoned  Stephen,  and  con- 
senting unto  his  death;  but  he  was  nevertheless 


OUR  SCHOOLS  OF  THEOLOGY         85 

wickedly  and  criminally  wrong.  It  is  possible 
some  of  these  gentlemen  never  were  'born  from 
above.'  It  is  probable  that  not  a  few  of  them 
are  without  the  Spirit.  Some  of  them  were  fail- 
ures in  the  pastorate,  but  being  book  men  were 
elected  to  teach  young  men  to  do  what  they  them- 
selves had  never  been  able  to  do.  Because  of  the 
character  of  their  work  and  the  lives  they  live 
they  are  not  in  vital  touch  with  the  spiritual  ac- 
tivities of  the  Church,  and  they  naturally  become 
critical  and  sometimes  captious.  Many  of  them 
recognize  this  fact,  and  have  made  some  efforts 
to  remedy  the  same ;  but  it  cannot  be  done  so  long 
as  they  hold  to  erroneous  views  of  the  Bible. 
Shortly  after  it  became  known  that  higher  criti- 
cism was  taught  in  these  schools,  and  it  was  urged 
that  such  views  and  teaching  were  paralyzing  to 
spiritual  living  and  things,  both  Boston  and  Gar- 
rett thought  to  refute  the  suggestion  by  organiz- 
ing evangelizing  bands  from  the  student  body  and 
sending  them  around  among  the  churches  to  con- 
duct soul-saving  work.  Some  good  was  accom- 
plished, because  not  a  few  of  the  students  were 
true  to  the  Bible  and  loyal  to  the  doctrines  of 
Methodism,  in  spite  of  the  false  teaching  of  the 
schools;  but  the  movement,  as  such,  proved  to 
be  a  failure.  Prof.  Mitchell  led  one  of  the  Bands 
from  the  Boston  School,  which  operated  in  Boston 
proper.  A  layman,  one  of  the  most  prominent  and 
influential  in  the  connection,  a  resident  of  Boston, 
attended  a  number  of  these  meetings,  writing  me 
about  them,  said:  "They  were  the  most  pitiable 


86        BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

failures  I  have  ever  seen."  Then  I  think  intel- 
lectual pride  has  turned  the  heads  of  some  of  these 
brethren.  They  talk  much  about  "Scholarship" 
and  the  "Modern  Mind."  But  there  is  not 
one  of  these  gentlemen,  who  teaches  higher  criti- 
cism in  any  Methodist  school,  who  is  in  any  real 
sense  a  scholar  of  the  first  order.  They  all  have 
some  learning,  and  are  pretty  familiar  with  the 
lore  of  the  schools ;  and  wishing  to  impress  people 
with  the  idea  that  they  are  scholarly,  have  taken 
up  with  the  views  of  certain  men  in  the  schools 
of  the  Old  World  who  have  the  reputation  of  be- 
ing great  scholars,  and  parrot-like  they  repeat 
their  utterances  as  representing  their  own  views. 
But  whatever  explanation  may  be  offered,  the  in- 
disputable fact  remains  that  these  gentlemen  are 
recreant  to  most  solemn  and  weighty  obligations, 
and  the  schools  in  which  they  teach  are  Methodist 
only  in  name,  and  are  doing  infinite  and  irrepar- 
able harm.  The  students  in  these  schools  are 
presumably  called  of  God  to  preach  His  Word, 
and  it  is  believed  by  them  that  a  three  years* 
course  in  these  institutions  will  better  fit  them  for 
this  ministry;  and  it  surely  should,  but  does  itt 
Most  of  them  are  graduated  with  but  little  real 
knowledge  of  the  Word  they  are  called  of  God  to 
preach.  So  far  as  the  instruction  they  receive,  it 
is  not  taught  them;  but  contrariwise,  the  objec- 
tions urged  by  sceptics  and  infidels  against  the 
Bible ;  and  these  young  gentlemen  go  out  into  the 
world  to  preach  what?  Not  the  Bible,  for  it  was 
little  taught  them  while  in  the  Theological  School ; 


OUE  SCHOOLS  OF  THEOLOGY         87 

nor  how  to  defend  the  Bible  against  the  infidel  ob- 
jections to  it  and  the  doctrines  of  Methodism  that 
are  so  alarmingly  prevalent  in  these  days,  but  to 
preach  ' '  another  gospel  that  is  not  another ! ' '  and 
their  ministry  will  result  in  failure.  I  know  scores 
of  alumni  of  these  schools  who  have  taken  up  with 
the  divisive  and  destructive  things  taught  them, 
and  not  one  of  them  is  a  soul-winner  as  real,  loyal 
Methodists  believe  in  soul- winning ;  they  do  not 
believe  in  revivals  in  any  real  scriptural  sense, 
and  therefore  do  not  have  them. 

Of  course,  there  are  many  ministers  who  were 
graduated  from  the  three  chief  schools  I  have 
named  when  they  were  yet  loyal  to  the  Bible  and 
the  doctrines  of  Methodism;  and  some  who  were 
graduated  after  the  incoming  of  false  teachers 
and  teachings,  who  yet  maintain  their  faith  in  the 
Bible  as  God's  Word,  in  spite  of  what  they  were 
taught,  and  are  preaching  it;  and  God  is  with 
them  in  power  and  blessing;  but  these  schools, 
as  at  present  conducted  are  entitled  to  no  credit 
for  their  successes. 


CHAPTER  V 
SUNDAY  SCHOOL  LITERATURE 

"And  thou  shalt  teach  them  diligently  unto  thy  children." 
Deut.  vi:  7. 

"Let  him  that  is  taught  in  the  word  communicate  unto  him 
that  teacheth  in  all  good  things."     Gal.  vi:  6. 

"From  a  child  ( Babe-Brephos )  thou  hast  known  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures, which  are  able  to  make  thee  wise  unto  salvation  through 
faith  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus."    2  Tim.  iii:  15. 

EACH  quadrennium  the  General  Conference 
elects  an  Editor  of  Sunday-school  Literature. 
The  present  Editor,  J.  T.  McFarland,  D.  D.,  wa3 
elected  in  1904,  and  re-elected  in  1908  and  1912. 
Dr.  McFarland  is  in  sympathy  with  much  of  the 
Higher  Criticism  of  the  Old  Testament,  of  the 
Graf-Wellhausen  school,  which  is  essentially  and 
necessarily  destructive  of  the  historic  faith.  His 
chief  assistant,  Dr.  Henry  H.  Meyer,  is  in  substan- 
tial agreement  with  Dr.  McFarland 's  views  in 
this  matter — as  are  nearly  all  the  contributors  to 
our  Sunday-school  Literature. 

The  day  after  the  adjournment  of  the  General 
Conference  of  1904,  I  rode  with  Dr.  McFarland 
from  Los  Angeles  to  Santa  Barbara,  California. 
We  talked  about  this  matter.  He  said:  "1  un- 
derstand you  did  not  vote  for  me."  I  answered 
' 'No,  I  did  not,  because  a  number  of  the  dele- 
gates from  your  Conference  (Kansas)  told  me  you 

88 


SUNDAY  SCHOOL  LITERATURE     89 

were  a  higher  critic,  and  for  that  reason  you  were 
not  elected  a  delegate."  (Dr.  McFarland  was  not 
a  delegate  to  the  General  Conference  that  elected 
him.)  Before  we  parted,  I  said  this  to  him,  "If  you 
will  be  loyal  to  the  Bible  and  the  doctrines  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  even  as  your  prede- 
cessor Bishop  Neely  was,  you  will  do  more  good 
than  any  ten  men  in  Methodism ;  but,  if  you  allow 
your  higher  criticism  views  to  dominate  your  work, 
you'll  do  one  hundred  times  more  harm  than 
good."  As  we  parted  I  said,  "I  am  going  to  pray 
that  you  may  be  guided  aright. ' '  Higher  criticism 
views  have  had  much  to  do  with  his  work,  from 
the  first.  Hundreds,  if  not  thousands,  of  protests 
have  been  sent  him  and  the  publishers.  (I  never 
sent  one  nor  had  anything  whatever  to  do  with 
sending  any.)  But  they  have  been  unheeded;  he 
has  gone  from  bad  to  worse. 

The  last  General  Conference  passed  the  follow- 
ing: 

1 '  Those  who  are  in  charge  of  our  official  Sunday- 
school  publications  should  consistently  adhere  to 
a  cautious  and  wise  policy  during  these  times  of 
unrest.  Such  a  policy  should  include  the  avoid- 
ance of  unsettled  questions  so  far  as  is  consistent 
with  honesty  in  teaching.  If  tentative  views  are 
set  forth,  they  should  be  plainly  labeled  "tenta- 
tive." Care  should  be  taken  to  keep  the  teach- 
ings of  our  literature  in  harmony  with  the  funda- 
mental doctrines  of  evangelical  Christianity  and 
the  standards  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
Not  only  the  comments  upon  the  lessons,  but  every 


90        BREAKERS !  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

part  of  the  literature  should  have  a  definite  evan- 
gelistic purpose  and  an  inspirational  evangelistic 
power.  "The  Sunday-school  Helps"  should  help 
the  teachers  to  reach  the  hearts  as  well  as  the 
minds  of  their  scholars.  The  aim  of  all  our  Sun- 
day-school work  should  be  to  bring  both  young 
and  old,  through  a  study  of  the  Bible,  to  an  ex- 
perimental knowledge  of  God,  and  of  His  Son 
Jesus  Christ,  our  Saviour." 

This  official  admonition  has  brought  about  no 
change,  nor  will  it,  unless  some  more  drastic  action 
is  taken.  In  "The  Lesson  Handbook,"  for  1913, 
Dr.  McFarland  says:  "The  Pentateuch  was  not 
an  original  work  written  throughout  in  the  same 
period  by  a  single  author;  it  was  a  compilation 
from  earlier  works.  It  was  the  final  edition  of 
the  Law  of  Israel,  these  earlier  works  being  for- 
mer editions  of  the  law."  Also,  "The  Pentateuch 
is  a  combination  of  four  earlier  works  dealing 
with  the  history  and  the  laws  of  Israel.  These 
works  are  known  as  (1)  the  Primitive  Document 
(also  called  the  Jehovistic,  or  Yahwistic  Docu- 
ment, (2)  the  Elohistic  Document,  (3)  Deuteron- 
omy, and  (4)  the  Priestly  Document.  These  four 
were  combined  by  the  editors  of  the  Pentateuch 
into  a  single  continuous  work." 

In  fine,  Dr.  McFarland  denies  that  Moses  wrote 
the  Pentateuch.  He  gives  no  proof  that  his  asser- 
tions are  true,  for  the  simple  reason  that  there 
is  none — absolutely  none.  His  statements  are  sim- 
ply the  conjectures  and  presuppositions  of  ration- 
alistic and  destructive  higher  criticism. 


SUNDAY  SCHOOL  LITERATURE  91 

John  Wesley  said :  ' '  Concerning  the  Scriptures 
in  general,  it  may  be  observed,  the  word  of  the 
living  God,  which  directed  the  first  Patriarchs 
also,  was,  in  the  time  of  Moses,  committed  to  writ- 
ing." 

Adam  Clark,  than  whom  no  man  ever  had  a  pro- 
founder  knowledge  of  ancient  languages  and  liter- 
ature, said  in  his  preface  to  the  Book  of  Genesis : 
1 '  Every  believer  in  Divine  Revelation  finds  himself 
amply  justified  in  taking  for  granted  that  the  Pen- 
tateuch is  the  work  of  Moses.  For  more  than  3,000 
years  this  has  been  the  invariable  opinion  of  those 
who  are  best  qualified  to  form  a  correct  judgment 
on  the  subject.  The  Jewish  church,  from  its  most 
remote  antiquity,  has  ascribed  the  work  to  no 
other  hand;  and  the  Christian  church,  from  its 
foundation,  has  attributed  it  to  the  Jewish  law- 
giver alone.  The  most  respectable  heathens  have 
concurred  in  this  testimony,  and  Jesus  Christ  and 
His  Apostles  have  completed  the  evidence,  and 
have  put  the  question  beyond  the  possibility  of 
being  doubted  by  those  who  profess  to  believe  the 
divine  authenticity  of  the  New  Testament." 

Jesus  said,  "Did  not  Moses  give  you  the  Law?" 
John  vii :  19. 

The  Pentateuch  represents  Moses  as  its  author, 
the  talker  with  Jesus  Christ  in  His  preincarnate 
state,  the  receiver  of  the  Law  from  the  mouth  of 
God,  the  writer  and  maker  of  different  books,  in 
which  History,  Law,  and  the  Mosaic  Institutions 
were  recorded  at  God's  command.  The  writer  of 
Genesis,  in  the  land  of  Midian,  the  Lord  com- 


92        BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 


manded  him  to  write  in  his  then  being  written 
second  book,  "The  Book,"  viz.,  "Exodus,"  the 
account  of  Amalek's  overthrow,  Ex.  xvii:  14.  He 
''wrote  all  that  God  commanded  for  Aaron  and 
his  sons ' ' — the  whole  Priest  Code,  i.  e.,  Leviticus, 
and  whatever  else  is  elsewhere  ' '  for  Aaron  and  his 
sons,"  1  Chron.  vi:49;  Ezra  iii :  2 ;  vi:18.  He 
"wrote  all  the  goings  out  and  journeyings  of  Is- 
rael," i.  e.,  the  Book  of  Numbers,  Num.  xxxiii:  2. 
He  "wrote  the  Book  of  Law,"  known  as  Deuteron- 
omy, and  passed  it  into  the  custody  of  the  Levites. 
"Moses  wrote  this  law  and  delivered  it  to  the  sons 
of  Levi,"  Deut.  xxxi:9.  He  "wrote  all  the  com- 
mandments, statutes,  testimonies,  and  judgments 
of  the  Lord,"  1  Kings  ii :  3.  All  that  Moses  wrote, 
God  commanded  Joshua  "to  observe  and  not  let 
depart  from  his  mouth,"  Josh.  i:7,  8.  Ezra  and 
Nehemiah  both  teach  that  the  Pentateuch  was  the 
work  of  Moses.  Jesus  quotes  profusely  from  every 
one  of  the  five  books,  and  ascribes  all  to  Moses. 
With  Him  the  name  "Moses"  stood  for  the  five 
books  of  Moses,  Luke  xxiv :  27,  44.  So  it  was  with 
the  Prophets.  He  told  the  Jews  that ' '  Moses  wrote 
of  Him,"  and  absolved  from  the  duty  of  believing 
on  Him  if  His  statement  was  false,  John  v :  45. 
Stephen  told  the  Sanhedrin  that  it  was  "Moses" 
who  "received  the  living  oracles"  from  God,  Acts 
vii :  37.  James  says  that  when  the  Pentateuch  sec- 
tions are  read  in  the  Synagogue,  it  is  "Moses" 
that  is  read  every  Sabbath  Day,  and  not  J.  E.  D. 
P.  R.,  and  the  whole  apostolic  council  assented, 
Acts  xv :  20.    Inside  and  outside  the  Pentateuch, 


SUNDAY  SCHOOL  LITERATURE  93 

the  overwhelming  testimony  of  Moses,  the  Pro- 
phets, Ezra,  Nehemiah,  the  Sanhedrin,  Jesus,  the 
Evangelists,  the  Apostolic  Council,  Stephen,  Paul, 
proves  the  utter  worthlessness  of  Dr.  McFar- 
land's  teaching. 

It  is  a  saying  of  the  Talmud,  "He  who  studies 
the  Torah,  but  does  not  teach  it  as  Moses  did,  is 
like  a  man  who  sows  and  reaps  no  harvest.  The 
Torah  is  the  Word  of  God  to  Israel.  Moses  has 
written  nothing  better.  One  should  always  occupy 
himself  with  the  Torah  as  divine.  He  who  denies 
the  Torah  as  divine,  has  no  part  in  the  world  to 
come."  Such  was  David's  view  when  he  called 
the  Pentateuch  "the  Law  of  the  Lord,"  at  which 
the  wicked  scoffed. 

The  "Five  Books  of  Moses,"  with  their  History, 
and  Three  Codes  of  Laws,  put  into  the  mouth  of 
Moses  by  the  mouth  of  God,  Ex.  4 :  10-16,  are  in 
perfect  agreement,  and  are  a  unitous  production 
by  the  same  author,  "Moses,"  for  a  definite  pur- 
pose, with  a  definite  Theme  and  a  definite  Plan 
of  writing.  I  do  not  speak  of  any  editorial  notes 
or  remarks  added  by  some  prophets  or  histori- 
graphers  of  Israel,  and  which,  as  Adam  Clark, 
Dr.  Strong,  and  a  thousand  others,  have  said  are 
of  "no  moment"  as  to  the  question  of  Mosaic 
authorship,  but  of  the  "Books"  as  a  whole.  All 
from  Genesis  I  to  Exodus  XIX  is  preparatory 
History ;  all  following,  to  the  end  of  Deuteronomy, 
is  the  continuation^  of  the  History  in  connection 
with  the  Laws  God  gave  to  Moses  for  both  the  ex- 
ternal and  the  spiritual  life  of  the  people,  and  for 


94        BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

the  political  administration  of  the  Theocracy.  The 
"Book  of  the  Covenant"  (Ex.  xx-xxii)  is  the  cor- 
ner-stone of  the  whole  subsequent  legislation.  The 
one  Theme  of  the  whole  is  the  Establishment  of 
the  Covenant  of  God  with  the  Hebrew  people  to 
be  His  people  forever.  That  Theme  is  the  "Pole" 
around  which  all  the  History  and  all  the  Laws 
turn.  The  Theme  is  one,  the  Plan  of  writing  is 
one,  the  Author  is  one,  "Moses"  himself,  called 
of  God  to  be  the  great  Historian,  Legislator, 
Leader  and  Founder  of  the  Hebrew  Nation.  That 
Genesis  was  written  by  Moses,  and  that,  apart 
from  this  Book,  the  other  Books  are  unintelligible, 
is  evident  to  the  most  ordinary  reader.  Still 
more:  Not  only  do  the  Laws  of  the  Pentateuch 
claim  to  be  from  God,  through  Moses,  but  the 
whole  Pentateuch  claims  to  be  written  by  Moses, 
the  father  of  the  Hebreiv  Nation.  With  unanimous 
voice,  the  Prophets,  Kings  and  Saints  of  the  Old 
Testament  regard  Moses  as  their  law-giver,  and 
also  as  the  inspired  Author  of  the  Books  that  bear 
his  name.  We  know  that  "God  spake  by  Moses." 
They  called  the  whole  Bible  the  "Torah"  or  "In- 
struction" from  God.  But  pre-eminently  and  tech- 
nically, the  Pentateuch  was  the  "Torah"  the 
written  * '  Law  of  the  Lord, ' '  as  David,  the  Proph- 
ets and  Ezra  call  it — the  Teaching  of  Israel."  It 
was  the  Codex  and  Standard  of  their  Covenant — 
Life  Supreme,  authoritative,  final.  The  Talmud 
itself  so  defines  it.  Following  the  example  of 
Christ  and  His  Apostles,  the  whole  Christian 
Church,  from  the  beginning,  held  Moses  to  be  the 


SUNDAY  SCHOOL  LITEEATUEE  95 

Author  of  Genesis,  and  the  four  Books  that  fol- 
low; nor  was  there  a  dissentient  view,  until  the 
modern  Higher  Criticism  arose,  and  assailed,  by 
its  audacity,  ignorance  and  craft,  the  Self-Testi- 
mony of  the  Pentateuch,  of  the  Jewish  Church, 
of  the  whole  body  of  Eabbinic  teaching  herein, 
of  Jesus  Christ,  of  His  Apostles,  and  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church  as  a  delusion,  and  denied  that  Moses 
wrote  of  Christ,  and  affirmed  that  what  the  Lord 
called  "his  writings,"  were  not  "his  writings,' ' 
but  the  self-contradictory  compositions,  fable- 
filled,  unhistorical,  mythical,  of  unknown  men,  who 
lived  and  wrote  them,  compiled  them  from  float- 
ing and  corrupted  traditions,  edited,  worked  over, 
re-edited,  from  600  to  1,000  years  after  Moses  was 
dead — as  many  as  two  and  three  authors,  living 
far  apart,  responsible  for  a  single  verse.  This 
is  the  "Higher  Criticism."  It  is  this  destructive, 
negative  criticism  that  Dr.  McFarland  persists  in 
putting  into  our  Sunday-school  periodicals  not- 
withstanding the  General  Conference  directed  him 
not  to  do  so. 

"What  will  the  harvest  be?" 

But  it  is  asked:  "What  matters  who  wrote  the 
Pentateuch,  since  we  have  it?"  It  must  matter  a 
good  deal,  else  why  should  the  so-called  "Modern 
Scholars"  be  evermore  insisting  that  Moses  did 
not,  as  did  Voltaire,  Paine  and  Ingersoll?  But  it 
does  matter,  and  matters  immensely,  for  the  om- 
niscience of  Jesus  is  involved  in  the  question  and 
thereby  His  Deity. 

Jesus,  speaking  to  the  Jews,  said :    ' '  Think  not 


96        BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

that  I  will  accuse  you  to  the  Father ;  there  is  one 
that  accuseth  you,  even  Moses,  on  whom  ye  have 
set  your  hope.  For  if  ye  believed  Moses,  ye  would 
believe  me ;  for  he  wrote  of  me.  But  if  ye  believe 
not  his  writings,  how  shall  ye  believe  my  words! " 
John  v:  45-47.  Where  in  the  writings  of  Moses 
is  anything  said  of  Jesus?  In  Gen.  iii :  15  it  is  said, 
"I  will  put  enmity  between  thee  and  the  woman, 
and  between  thy  seed  and  her  seed ;  it  shall  bruise 
thy  head,  and  thou  shalt  bruise  his  heel.,,  The 
evangelical  scholars  are  agreed  that  this  is  a  pre- 
diction of  Christ,  and  is  one  of  the  writings  re- 
ferred to  by  the  Saviour  as  by  Moses.  Another 
one  of  these  predictions  is  found  in  Gen.  xxii :  18. 
Likewise  a  double  prediction  in  Deut.  xviii :  15, 18. 
Jesus  says  Moses  wrote  these. 

Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  them,  "For  the 
hardness  of  your  heart  he  (Moses)  wrote  you  this 
precept."  Mark  x:5.  Where  is  this  precept 
found?  In  Deut.  xxiv:l.  That  is,  Jesus  said 
Moses  wrote  Deut.  xxiv:  1. 

When  Jesus  said  these  things  He  either  knew 
what  He  was  saying  was  true  or  untrue.  The 
Church  has  always  believed  that  in  Him  "are  hid 
all  the  treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge.' ' 
(Col.  ii:3);  that  He  "knew  all  things' '  (John 
xvi :  30) ;  as  clearly  seen  in  all  His  teachings,  but 
especially  in  confounding  the  Doctors  when  He 
was  but  twelve  years  old,  and  His  claims  to  equal- 
ity with  the  Father ;  therefore,  what  He  said  was 
true.  He  is  the  Truth.  But  Dr.  McFarland,  in 
denying  the  Mosaic  authorship  of  the  Pentateuch, 


SUNDAY  SCHOOL  LITERATURE  97 

teaches  otherwise.  If  Jesus  knew  Moses  did  not 
write  the  Pentateuch  and  taught  that  he  did,  He 
deliberately  taught  a  falsehood.  If  He  did  not 
know  what  He  was  teaching  was  untrue,  did  not 
know  even  as  much  as  Dr.  McFarland  claims  to 
know,  how  can  any  one  trust  their  eternal  interests 
to  Him  with  that  confidence  that  alone  can  give 
quietness  and  assurance  forever?  Such  teach- 
ing is  essentially  and  radically  destructive,  and 
this  is  made  all  the  more  emphatic  when  we  re- 
member that  John  the  Baptist  said  of  Him :  ' '  For 
He  Whom  God  hath  sent  speaketh  the  words  of 
God;  for  He  giveth  not  the  spirit  by  measure." 
John  iii :  34.  The  Saviour's  own  words  are  in 
perfect  agreement  with  John's,  when  He  said: 
"The  words  which  thou  gavest  me  I  have  given 
unto  them"  (John  xvii:  8) ;  and  "I  spake  not  from 
myself,  but  the  Father  which  sent  me;  He  hath 
given  me  commandment,  what  I  should  say,  and 
what  I  should  speak.  .  .  .  The  things,  therefore, 
which  I  speak,  even  as  the  Father  hath  said  unto 
me,  so  I  speak."  John  xii:49,  50.  To  deny  the 
Omniscience  of  Jesus  is  tantamount  to  saying  the 
Father  did  not  know  some  things  as  well  as  the 
so-called  higher  critics.  Such  teaching  is  blas- 
phemous. 

Along  this  same  line  ex-Chancellor  D.  W.  C. 
Huntington  had  a  communication  in  the  Sunday- 
school  Journal  of  September,  1904,  that  Dr.  Mc- 
Farland commended  as  "Some  Sane  Views,"  in 
which  under  the  sub-head,  Higher  Criticism,  the 
writer  says :  "What  has  the  religion  of  Christ  lost 


98        BEEAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

if  the  Book  of  Isaiah  was  written  by  two  prophets 
instead  of  one!" 

The  school  of  critics  to  which  Dr.  McFarland 
belongs  is  agreed  that  Isaiah  wrote  never  a  word 
of  the  prophecy  after  the  39th  chapter.  But  Jesus 
said  that  Isa.  liii:4,  "Was  spoken  by  Isaiah  the 
prophet."  See  Matt.  viii:17.  He  likewise  said 
Isa.  xlii :  1-3  "Was  spoken  by  Isaiah  the  prophet." 
See  Matt,  xii :  17.  He  also  said  that  Isa.  liii :  1 
was  "The  word  of  Isaiah  the  prophet  .  .  . 
which  he  spake. ' '    See  John  xii :  38. 

Let  it  be  noted:  Jesus  did  not  say  these  things 
can  be  found  in  a  book  called  "The  book  of  the 
Prophet  Isaiah. ' '  He  said  distinctly  and  definitely 
that  Isaiah  the  prophet  "spake"  them;  and  they 
are  found  in  that  part  of  the  book  that  these  critics 
say  Isaiah  did  not  write. 

If  Dr.  McFarland  and  his  school  are  right  Jesus 
did  not  know  what  He  was  talking  about,  and 
taught  that  which  was  not  true,  all  of  which  con- 
stitutes a  denial  of  His  Ominiscience  and  incident- 
ally of  His  Deity,  in  which  case  "The  religion  of 
Christ"  has  "lost"  its  Head. 

Our  Sunday-school  periodicals  two  years  since 
denied  the  authenticity  of  the  Book  of  Daniel,  as 
did  the  arch-infidel  Porphyry  long  centuries  ago, 
teaching  that  it  was  written  about  b.c.  170,  during 
the  times  of  Antiochus  Epiphanes  and  the  Macca- 
bees, and  therefore  not  by  Daniel.  But,  Jesus  said 
Dan.  ix:  27  was  "spoken  by  Daniel  the  prophet." 
See  Matt,  xxiv :  15. 

But  the  so-called  biblical  critics  of  the  school 


SUNDAY  SCHOOL  LITERATURE  99 

to  whose  teaching  Dr.  McFarland  has  committed 
himself,  now,  almost  to  a  man,  openly  agree  with 
Mr.  George  Jackson  (from  whom  I  have  made 
numerous  quotations  in  a  preceding  part  of  this 
volume)  when  he  says:  "The  authorship  of  a  par- 
ticular Psalm,  the  literary  character  of  a  book 
of  the  Old  Testament,  for  example,  are  not  ques- 
tions that  can  be  determined  by  the  words  of  an 
Apostle ;  they  cannot  be  determined,  with  all  rev- 
erence be  it  said,  by  the  words  of  Jesus  Himself;" 
and  "When  I  am  told  that  the  Bible  is,  in  a  sense 
that  belongs  to  no  other  book,  the  Word  of  God, 
I  cannot  receive  the  saying  merely  on  the  author- 
ity of  another,  not  even  of  the  apostles,  nor  of 
Christ  Himself." 
"What  mil  the  harvest  be?" 


CHAPTER  VI 
SUNDAY  SCHOOL  LITERATURE 

CONTINUED 

BUT  the  teaching  that  has  given  most  offence 
and  has  led  to  most  of  the  multitude  of  pro- 
tests from  all  parts  of  the  Church  is  that  which 
in  effect  makes  unnecessary  the  regenerating  work 
of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

I  quote  Dr.  McFarland's  own  words  from 
"Preservation  versus  The  Rescue  of  the  Child." 
"The  child  begins  life  as  a  child  of  God."  Pp. 
8,  13.  "The  child  does  not  come  into  this  world 
corrupt  and  depraved."  P.  11.  "The  child  is 
already  in  the  Kingdom."  P.  13.  "We  have  said 
from  the  beginning  that  the  child  belongs  to  the 
Kingdom  of  God."  P.  11.  "They  are  in  the  King- 
dom; our  business  is  to  see  that  they  remain 
there."  P.  13.  " She  was  a  child  of  God  and  had 
always  been  such."  P.  23.  "We  should  impress 
it  upon  children  in  the  beginning  of  their  lives 
that  they  belong  to  the  heavenly  Father's  house, 
and  that  the  wisest  thing  they  can  do  is  to  remain 
contentedly,  obediently,  and  happily  in  that 
house."  P.  13.  "There  are  no  unchristian  chil- 
dren in  the  world — none  in  our  fair  Christian 
land,  none  in  our  churches  or  in  our  homes." 
P.  20.    ' '  The  next  time  people  come  to  you  asking, 

100 


SUNDAY  SCHOOL  LITERATURE         101 

'Have  these  little  children  had  any  change  of 
heart?'  do  you  say  to  them  that  you  are  laboring 
and  praying  seven  days  in  the  week  to  prevent 
them  from  having  a  change  of  heart?"     P.  19. 

In  the  Sunday-school  Journal,  p.  884,  December, 
1912,  he  says:  "Every  soul,  by  the  innermost  es- 
sence of  his  nature,  is  a  child  of  God.  ...  If 
we  become  His  children  in  the  higher  ethical  sense 
it  will  be  by  voluntarily  developing  the  latent 
capacities  for  righteousness  in  our  natures  into 
actual  righteousness  in  our  lives  and  characters." 

The  Seventh  Article  of  Religion  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church  is  as  follows:  "Original 
sin  standeth  not  in  the  following  of  Adam  (as 
the  Pelagians  do  vainly  talk),  but  it  is  the  corrup- 
tion of  the  nature  of  every  man,  that  naturally  is 
engendered  of  the  offspring  of  Adam,  whereby 
man  is  very  far  gone  from  original  righteousness, 
and  of  his  own  nature  inclined  to  evil,  and  that 
continually. ' ' 

In  the  "Order  for  the  Administration  of  Bap- 
tism to  Infants,"  the  officiating  minister  says: 
"Dearly  Beloved,  forasmuch  as  all  men  are  con- 
ceived and  born  in  sin,  and  that  our  Saviour  Christ 
saith,  'Except  a  man  be  born  of  water  and  of  the 
Spirit  he  cannot  enter  the  Kingdom  of  God;'  I 
beseech  you  to  call  upon  God  the  Father,  through 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  having,  of  His  bounte- 
ous mercy  redeemed  this  child  by  the  blood  of 
His  Son,  he  will  grant  that  he,  being  baptized  with 
water,  may  also  be  baptized  with  the  Holy  Ghost ; ' ' 
and  in  the  prayer  of  consecration  that  follows,  the 


102      BREAKERS !  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

case  is  thus  stated:  "We  beseech  thee,  that  of 
thine  infinite  mercy  thou  wilt  look  upon  this  child ; 
wash  him  and  sanctify  him,  that  he  being  saved 
by  thy  grace,  etc.  ...  0  merciful  God,  grant 
that  all  carnal  affections  may  die  in  him,  and  that 
all  things  belonging  to  the  Spirit  may  live  and 
grow  in  him." 

By  these  quotations  it  is  plainly  apparent,  to 
even  common  folks,  that  Dr.  McFarland  is  not 
only  not  in  harmony  with  the  doctrines  of  his 
Church,  but  is  using  his  high  office  and  great  op- 
portunity to  annul  the  same,  and  is  false  to  his 
ordination  vows  and  solemn  obligations  as  a  Meth- 
odist minister. 

Bad  as  this  is,  it  is  not  the  worst  of  it.  His 
teaching  is  contrary  to  the  Word  of  God.  The 
Holy  Scriptures  speak  as  follows: 

"Behold,  I  was  shapen  in  iniquity,  and  in  sin 
did  my  mother  conceive  me."  Ps.  li:5.  "The 
wicked  are  estranged  from  the  womb;  they  go 
astray  as  soon  as  they  be  born,  speaking  lies." 
Ps.  lviii :  3.  "  Therefore,  as  through  one  man 
sin  entered  into  the  world,  and  death  through  sin ; 
and  so  death  passed  unto  all  men,  for  that  all 
sinned."  Rom.  v:  12.  "And  you  did  he  quicken 
(make  alive)  when  ye  were  dead  through  your 
trespasses  and  sins  .  .  .  and  were  by  nature 
children  of  wrath,  even  as  the  rest."  Eph.  ii :  1-3. 
"The  tares  are  the  children  of  the  wicked  one." 
Matt,  xiii:  38.  "Ye  are  of  your  father  the  devil." 
John  viii :  44.  "0  full  of  all  guile  and  all  villainy, 
thou  son  of  the  devil. ' '   Acts  xiii :  10.    "  In  this  the 


SUNDAY  SCHOOL  LITERATURE         103 

children  of  God  are  manifest  and  the  children  of 
the  devil. ' '  1  John  iii :  10.  "  Children  of  disobedi- 
ence. ' '  Eph.  v :  16.  "  They  which  are  the  children 
of  the  flesh,  these  are  not  the  children  of  God." 
Rom.  ix :  8. 

Because  of  this  awful  condition  of  affairs  Jesus 
said:  "Except  a  man  be  born  again  he  cannot 
see  the  Kingdom  of  God."  John  iii:  3.  "If  any 
man  be  in  Christ  he  is  a  new  creature" — crea- 
tion. 2  Cor.  v:17.  "Partakers  of  the  divine 
nature. ' '  2  Pet.  i :  3.  "  Being  born  again,  not 
of  corruptible  seed,  but  of  incorruptible,  by  the 
Word  of  God."  1  Pet.  i:  23.  Saved  "by  the 
washing  of  regeneration  and  renewing  of  the  Holy 
Ghost."  Titus  iii:  5.  "But  as  many  as  received 
Him,  to  them  gave  He  the  right  to  become  children 
of  God,  even  to  them  that  believe  on  His  name: 
wnich  were  born,  not  of  blood,  nor  of  the  will  of 
the  flesh,  nor  of  the  will  of  man,  but  of  God." 
John  i:  12,  13.  "Whosoever  believeth  that  Jesus 
is  the  Christ,  is  born  of  God."  1  John  v:l. 
"For  ye  are  all  the  children  of  God  by  faith  in 
Christ  Jesus."  Gal.  iii:  26.  "For  as  in  Adam 
all  die,  so  also  in  Christ  shall  all  be  made  alive." 
I  Cor.  xv :  22.  Read  also  Romans,  chapter  vii,  and 
viii :  1 :  17 ;  and  Gal.  iv :  21-31. 

We  see  by  the  above  quotations  from  the  Holy 
Scriptures — First.  That  the  fountain  of  our  hu- 
manity, in  Eden,  was  poisoned  by  sin.  Second. 
That  the  stream  that  has  flowed  through  the  gen- 
erations of  men  is  the  same,  so  that  all  the  sons 
and  daughters  of  men,  according  to  natural  law, 


104      BREAKERS !  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

are  possessed  of  sinful  natures.  Third.  That  the 
"mind  of  the  flesh  is  death  ...  is  enmity 
against  God ;  for  it  is  not  subject  to  the  law  of  God, 
neither  indeed  can  be."  Rom.  viii:  6,  7.  Fourth. 
That  man's  loss  and  need  has  been  and  can  be 
made  good  to  him  through  the  finished  work  and 
mediation  of  Jesus  Christ,  our  Redeemer,  Saviour 
and  Lord.  Fifth.  That  the  work  of  regeneration  is 
alone  through  the  Word  of  God,  by  the  enlighten- 
ing and  quickening  energy  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  as 
Executive  of  the  Godhead.  Sixth.  That  the  New 
Birth  is  an  absolute  necessity  to  Sonship — that 
there  is  no  other  way  to  become  children  of  God. 

Therefore  we  conclude  that  they  who  teach  that 
all  human  beings  are  the  children  of  God — the 
so-called  "Fatherhood  of  God"  theory;  that  the 
New  Birth  is  not  a  necessity  to  Sonship;  that  all 
that  is  necessary  is  to  educate  and  develop 
thought  and  character  along  ethical  lines,  are  un- 
Methodistic  and  unscriptural,  and  their  teaching 
is  to  be  rejected  as  dangerous  because  untrue. 

Dr.  McFarland  makes  a  labored  effort  to  justify 
his  contention  by  the  use  of  Matt,  xviii :  3,  where 
Jesus  said:  "Except  ye  be  converted  (Turn- 
Strepho)  and  become  as  little  children,  ye  shall  not 
enter  into  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven. ' '  He  is  either 
woefully  ignorant  of  the  real  meaning  of  that 
scripture  or  wilfully  perverts  the  same.  Possibly 
both  these  things  are  true  of  his  teaching;  it  looks 
very  much  that  way. 

Conversion  is  not  salvation  from  the  guilt  of 
sin  in  justification,  nor  from  spiritual  death  in 


SUNDAY  SCHOOL  LITEEATUEE         105 

regeneration,  or  the  new  birth,  and  it  is  quibbling 
and  darkening  sound  doctrine  to  hold  these  terms 
to  be  synonymous. 

The  gospel  of  Matthew  is  particularly  for  the 
Jews,  as  all  spiritually  minded  scholars  believe. 
The  ancestry  of  our  Lord  is  given  only  to  Abra- 
ham, to  emphasize  the  fact  that  he  was,  after  the 
flesh,  a  "Hebrew  of  the  Hebrews."  It  is  the  gos- 
pel of  the  kingdom.  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is 
mentioned  nowhere  else  save  in  Matthew.  It  is  the 
ultimate,  manifested  kingdom,  when  Jesus,  assert- 
ing His  regal  rights,  shall  have  "Dominion  from 
sea  to  sea."  Ps.  lxxii:8.  "But  now  we  see  not 
all  things  put  under  Him. ' '  Heb.  ii :  8.  Hence 
Jesus  taught  His  disciples  to  pray,  "Thy  King- 
dom come"  (Matt.  vi:10),  even  the  Everlast- 
ing Kingdom  (1  Cor.  xv:  24,  25).  Into  this  King- 
dom His  disciples,  in  whom  was  already  the 
Kingdom  of  God,  could  not  be  admitted  unless 
they  turned  from  their  erroneous  notions  concern- 
ing the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  (for  there  was  strife 
among  them  as  to  who  should  be  greatest)  and  be- 
come humble,  docile,  teachable  and  obedient,  even 
as  a  little  child.  There  is  but  one  kingdom,  it  is 
true,  but  various  aspects.  The  Kingdom  of  God 
is  the  spiritual  phase  of  the  Kingdom.  It  ' '  Com- 
eth not  with  observation  .  .  .  for,  behold,  the 
Kingdom  of  God  is  within  (entos — in  the  midst) 
you. ' '  Luke  xvii :  20,  21. ' '  For  the  Kingdom  of  God 
is  not  meat  and  drink,  but  righteousness  and  peace 
and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost."  Eom.  xiv:17.  Into 
this    Kingdom   no    one    can    ever    enter   except 


106      BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

through  the  quickening,  transforming  energy  of 
the  Holy  Ghost.  "Except  a  man  be  born  again 
he  cannot  see  the  Kingdom  of  God."  John  iii:  3. 
If  a  child  when  born  into  this  world,  according 
to  the  law  of  natural  generation  and  life,  is  also  a 
child  of  God,  when,  if  ever,  and  how,  does  it  be- 
come a  child  of  the  devil,  of  "disobedience,"  of 
"wrath"?  Dr.  McFarland  does  not  attempt  to 
explain  the  Scriptures  on  this  matter;  indeed, 
I  am  inclined  to  think  he  does  not  believe 
them;  he  certainly  cannot  reconcile  them  to 
his  views.  The  teaching  of  the  Holy  Scriptures 
and  the  belief  of  the  Church  is  that  until  a 
child  reaches  that  period  in  life  when  it  knows 
the  difference  between  right  and  wrong,  and 
is  capable  of  exercising  its  will  in  matters  of  moral 
conduct,  it  is  unaccountable ;  and,  if  it  were  to  die 
in  that  state  would  most  surely  be  saved,  into  the 
heavenly  life,  because  Jesus,  by  His  shed  blood, 
provided  an  atonement  for  all.  But  when  does 
a  child  reach  that  age!  Who  can  say?  By  what 
rule  can  it  be  determined?  Certainly  no  arbitrary 
rule  can  be  laid  down.  No  longer  ago  than  yester- 
day a  friend  of  mine  said  to  me:  "When  a  very 
little  boy  I  one  day  heard  my  father  and  mother 
talking  about  this  very  thing.  I  became  very  much 
interested  and  anxious.  At  last  they  agreed 
that  at  ten  years  a  child  reached  the  age  of  ac- 
countability; and  I  at  once  dismissed  my  anxi- 
ety, for  I  was  not  yet  that  old.  My  parents  be- 
came 'Children  of  God  by  faith  in  Christ  Jesus ' 
when  seven  years  old.    Before  this  they  'were  by 


SUNDAY  SCHOOL  LITERATUBE         107 

nature  children  of  wrath  even  as  the  rest,'  accord- 
ing to  God's  Word.  Dr.  McFarland  thinks  and 
teaches  otherwise ;  in  fact  he  does  away  with  the 
regenerating  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Where  in 
the  Sunday-school  literature  has  he  ever  definitely 
stated  the  all  important  doctrine  of  the  new  birth 
as  the  Bible  teaches  it,  and  Methodists  believe  it? 
He  disparages  and  ridicules  evangelism  in  our 
Sunday  schools,  and  the  great  body  of  our  schol- 
ars are  past  the  age  of  accountability,  and  a  ma- 
jority beyond  fourteen  years  of  age.  Is  it  any 
wonder  that  "more  than  sixty  per  cent  of  our 
Sunday-school  members  are  lost  to  us  just  as  they 
are  coming  to  maturity?"  (Pittsburgh  Christian 
Advocate,  April  24,  1913.) 

More  than  this,  so  far  as  his  work  and  influence 
extend  our  young  people  are  growing  up  with  little 
or  no  knowledge  of  the  doctrines  of  Methodism; 
and  indeed  they  are  taught  much  that  is  anti- 
scriptural  and  un-Methodistic.  Take  for  instance 
this  prayer,  from  Sunday-school  Journal  of  March, 
1913: 

A  PRAYER 

' '  0  Thou  who  art  the  God  of  Power  and  of  Love, 
we  come  to  Thee  with  thankful  praise  and  adora- 
tion. Without  Thee  there  is  no  life,  nor  any  joy. 
Thou  hast  made  the  world  in  all  its  beauty.  Thou 
hast  caused  the  sun  to  give  us  warmth  and  light. 
The  shining  stars  obey  Thy  will ;  the  flowers  also 
are  Thy  ministers. 

"Teach  us,  0  Father,  true  obedience  to  Thy 
perfect  law.    From  all  proud  thoughts  defend  us. 


108      BEEAKEES!  METHODISM  ADEIFT 

In  our  ignorance,  Thy  wisdom  give  us.  Make  us 
strong  in  Thy  eternal  strength.  And  thus,  en- 
folded by  Thy  power  we  would  live  in  fellowship 
with  Thee,  0  God,  forever.    Amen. '  * 

This  is  neither  biblical,  nor  Methodistic,  but 
Unitarian.  No  recognition  of  the  Mediation  of 
our  Saviour,  who  said  to  His- Disciples :  "No  one 
cometh  unto  the  Father  but  by  Me"  (John  xiv:  6) 
and,  "  Whatsoever  ye  shall  ask  the  Father  in  My 
name,  He  will  give  it  you. "  John  xvi :  23,  24.  And 
so  of  almost  all  the  fundamental  doctrines  of 
Methodism — they  are  passed  over  or  glossed.  The 
writings  and  writers  he  recommends  are  almost 
all  of  other  schools,  many  of  them  having  no  re- 
spect for  what  we  as  Methodists  believe  and  stand 
for.  The  syndicate  graded  lessons  had  their  birth 
in  that  hot  bed  of  infidelity,  Chicago  University. 
The  Presbyterians  were  led  into  adopting  them, 
but  they  made  so  much  trouble  that  the  last  Gen- 
eral Assembly  ordered  them  discontinued.  Pro- 
fessor Casper  Wistar  Hodge,  of  Princeton  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  said  of  these  lessons: 

"The  fact  of  the  matter  is  that  the  Graded  Les- 
sons appear  to  be  a  deliberate  attempt  to  substi- 
tute moral  truths  and  some  of  the  truths  of  natural 
religion  for  Christianity,  and  then  to  seek  in  the 
Bible  for  illustrations  of  these  truths.  In  point  of 
fact,  the  underlying  ideas  which  give  the  tone  to 
the  Graded  Lessons  are  fundamentally  opposed  to 
those  of  the  religion  of  the  Bible,  being  formed 
and  determined  by  the  idea  that  all  that  the  child 
needs  is  instruction,  not  salvation.    In  this  way, 


SUNDAY  SCHOOL  LITERATURE         109 

the  whole  Bible  is  distorted. ' '    This  is  a  fair  state- 
ment of  the  case. 

The  Christian  Workers'  Magazine  treats  the 
matter  thus:  "No  person  of  sense  objects  to  the 
best  religious  education  in  our  Sunday-schools  or 
to  the  graded  lesson  in  itself,  but  only  to  the  way 
the  enemy  would  use  these  things  to  come  in  upon 
us  like  a  flood.  It  is  the  treatment  of  these  lessons 
put  out  by  the  syndicate  of  publishers  so  known, 
to  which  we  are  opposed,  and  this  on  four 
grounds : 

(1)  It  is  unscientific  in  method. 

(2)  It  is  impracticable  in  application  for  a 

large  constituency  of  Sunday-schools. 

(3)  It  is  unscriptural  in  character. 

(4)  It  is  exceedingly  harmful  in  its  spiritual 

results. 
To  speak  only  of  the  last  named — the  particular 
treatment  referred  to  stands  for  the  radical  criti- 
cism and  a  purely  human  and  faulty  authorship  of 
the  sacred  books.  It  reduces  the  Word  of  God  to 
the  level  of  ordinary  literature.  It  substitutes  na- 
ture lessons  for  Holy  Scripture.  It  breaks  the 
unity  of  effort  which  has  been  one  of  the  strongest 
features  of  the  Sunday-school  work  for  forty 
years,  and  it  slurs  over  the  great  essentials  of 
the  Christian  faith.  By  these  essentials  we  mean 
the  nature  and  guilt  of  sin;  the  divine  justice  in 
dealing  with  sin;  the  atonement  of  Jesus  Christ 
as  the  only  hope  of  the  sinner ;  the  need  or  regen- 
eration by  the  Holy  Spirit;  justification  by  faith, 
and  the  eternal  retribution  of  those  who  die  in 


110      BREAKERS !  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

their  sins.  To  have  the  children  of  this  generation 
grow  up  with  almost  no  instruction  upon  these 
vital  truths  of  Holy  Writ  is  a  crime  against  hu- 
manity and  against  the  state,  to  say  nothing  of 
the  stewardship  of  the  church  in  the  account  it 
must  render  to  its  divine  Head." 

The  Presbyterians  having  repudiated  these  les- 
sons, our  church,  the  Methodist  Church  South  and 
the  Congregational  Church,  are  the  only  ones  us- 
ing them.  Dr.  McFarland  will  continue  their  use 
because  it  is  part  of  the  plan  to  do  away  with 
things  Methodistic,  and  in  conflict  with  higher 
criticism  and  so-called  new  theology. 

The  Literary  Digest,  of  June  28,  1902,  tells  us 
that  Professor  Camden  M.  Cobern,  now  of  Alle- 
gheny College  (Methodist),  Meadville,  Pa.,  said: 
"That  the  viewpoint  of  present-day  evangelical 
scholarship  with  regard  to  most  Biblical  questions 
is  different  from  that  occupied  twenty-five  years 
ago  is  also  evident,  not  only  to  ministers,  but  to 
most  of  the  intelligent  laymen  connected  with  our 
Sunday-schools.  Even  those  who  are  not  academi- 
cally trained,  or  well  read  theologically,  are  sure 
that  something  has  happened.  Many  of  these  are 
eagerly  inquisitive  to  know  whether  there  is  a  new 
'orthodoxy'  which,  while  it  takes  account  of  all 
the  valid  results  of  modern  criticism,  yet  finds  it- 
self able  to  hold  to  the  great  fundamental  faiths 
of  Christianity. 

"The  main  function  of  Biblical  criticism  in  the 
Sunday-school  is  to  safeguard  the  scholars  from 
false  teaching,  so  that  they  will  not  have  to  un- 


SUNDAY  SCHOOI/UTEEATUEB         111 

learn  in  later  years  what  they  learn  in  Sunday- 
school,  or  else  drift  off  into  infidelity.  My  judg- 
ment would  be  that  90  per  cent,  of  the  prevailing 
intellectual  scepticism  has  arisen  because  of  child- 
hood misconceptions  as  to  what  truths  were  fun- 
damental to  Christianity.  These  men  have  discov- 
ered the  unreliability  of  certain  things  which  they 
were  taught  to  believe,  and,  supposing  these  be- 
liefs to  be  essential  to  Christianity,  they  have 
given  up  all  faith  in  the  Christian  system." 

This  is  the  first  outspoken  utterance  favoring 
the  movement  to  introduce  this  faith  and  soul- 
destroying  teaching  into  the  Sabbath-school  I 
have  seen.  And  it  will  be  noticed  that  Dr.  Cobern 
charges  that  "90  per  cent,  of  the  prevailing  in- 
tellectual scepticism"  is  chargeable  to  instructions 
imparted  to  our  young  people  in  our  homes  and 
Sunday-schools.  It  is  an  insult  to  the  intelligence 
of  the  Christian  fathers  and  mothers  and  faithful, 
godly  Sunday-school  teachers  of  our  land.  These 
false  teachers — false  to  God  and  the  Church,  false 
to  solemn  ordination  vows  and  obligations  as 
weighty  as  eternity — are  openly,  persistently,  and 
concertedly  pushing  their  God-dishonoring,  Bible- 
degrading,  faith-destroying  propaganda ;  and  then 
impudently  charge  those  who  are  loyal  to  the 
Word  of  God,  and  the  ' '  Faith  which  was  once  for 
all  delivered  unto  the  saints,"  with  the  responsi- 
bility for  the  wreckage  and  ruin  they  themselves 
have  brought  about.  If  the  Methodist  Church  tol- 
erates this  thing  much  longer  God  will  surely  spew 
her  out  of  His  mouth. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  BOOK  CONCERN 

"rpWENTY  Methodist  preachers,  meeting  in 
*  Annual  Conference  in  the  little  Wesley 
Chapel,  in  John  Street,  New  York,  in  May,  1789, 
determined  that  a  publishing  house  was  a  neces- 
sary adjunct  of  their  mission  of  spreading  the  gos- 
pel throughout  the  new  republic.  John  Wesley's 
successful  use  of  the  press  had  already  pointed  the 
way  for  Asbury,  Coke,  Whatcoat,  Lee,  Garrettson 
and  others  of  that  obscure  little  company — too  in- 
significant to  be  mentioned  in  the  newspapers  of 
the  day. 

1 '  The  Conference  of  1789  left  no  detailed  record 
of  its  action  on  the  Book  Concern,  but  Bishop  Coke 
wrote:  'It  was  all  peace  and  concord.  Glory! 
Glory  be  to  God !  We  have  now  settled  our  print- 
ing business.'  Capital  was  needed  and  the  capi- 
talist was  at  hand.  It  is  an  old  story,  and  one 
that  Methodist  ministers  will  never  tire  of  telling, 
that  John  Dickins,  the  secretary,  who  was  ap- 
pointed the  first '  book  steward, '  put  up  every  shil- 
ling of  his  savings,  six  hundred  dollars,  to  start 
the  business. 

"Dickins  was  appointed  to  preach  in  Philadel- 
phia and  there  he  opened  the  business,  the  first 
entry  in  the  books  being  on  August  17,  1789.  The 
first  book  issued  was  The  Christian's  Pattern,  a 

112 


THE  BOOK  CONCERN  113 

reprint  of  Wesley's  abridgment  of  The  Imitation 
of  Christ,  by  Thomas  a  Kempis." 

Had  these  old  heroes  known  what  kind  of  stuff 
the  Book  Concern  would  be  turning  out  in  these 
days,  they  certainly  would  not  have  launched  the 
undertaking.  They  sought  to  counteract  the  in- 
fluence of  the  deistical  and  infidel  teachings  of 
Paine  and  Voltaire  and  their  associates — which 
was  identically  the  same  as  the  so-called  Higher 
Criticism  of  the  present  time — by  providing  lit- 
erature in  harmony  with  the  Word  of  God  and 
Methodist  doctrine.  Now,  sad  to  relate,  the  Book 
Concern  is  publishing  and  selling  carloads  of 
books  and  periodicals  containing  much  of  the 
teachings  of  these  infidels  I  have  named.  An  iniq- 
uitous betrayal  of  a  sacred  trust. 

I  have,  in  a  previous  chapter,  quoted  largely 
from  Rev.  George  Jackson's  book.  This  book  is 
published  by  the  Methodist  Book  Concern;  and 
Paine  and  Voltaire  never  said  anything  worse 
about  the  Bible  than  can  be  found  in  its  pages. 

George  Preston  Mains,  D.D.,  Agent  of  the  Book 
Concern,  at  New  York,  while  receiving  $5,000  a 
year  from  the  Church  for  his  services,  wrote  a 
book,  and  the  Book  Concern  published  it ;  and  has 
advertised  it  more  widely,  and  pushed  its  sales 
more  energetically  than  any  book  they  have  ever 
published  in  harmony  with  the  Bible  and  Metho- 
dist doctrines.  The  following  are  quotations  from 
the  book,  to  show  how  nearly  Dr.  Mains  agrees 
with  Paine  and  Voltaire. 

Dr.  Mains  says,  "But  on  the  assumption,  for  in- 


114      BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

stance,  that  one  writer  was  the  author  of  the  five 
books  of  the  Pentateuch,  it  is  evident  to  the  casual 
reader  that  as  these  writings  now  stand  in  the 
canon  they  yield  no  satisfactory  evidence  of  either 
historic  order  or  of  progressive  revelation.  They 
present  in  brief  compass,  and  not  with  freedom 
from  confusion,  many  varieties  of  literary  style, 
diverse  conditions  of  civilization  and  laws  which, 
for  simultaneous  administration,  would  certainly 
conflict  with  themselves." 

"It  is  the  conclusion  of  critical  scholarship  that 
the  literature  embraced  in  the  Pentateuch  is  the 
product  more  nearly  of  a  thousand  years  rather 
than  the  writings  of  a  single  author"  (p.  111). 

Paine  said,  "Moses  is  not  the  author  of  the 
books  ascribed  to  him.  .  .  .  All  the  contradictions 
in  time,  place  and  circumstances  that  abound  in 
the  books  ascribed  to  Moses  prove  to  a  demonstra- 
tion that  these  books  could  not  be  written  by 
Moses,  nor  in  the  times  of  Moses"  (pp.  87,  89,  Age 
of  Reason). 

Voltaire  said,  "The  Pentateuch  could  not  be 
from  Moses"  (Ex.  of  Lord  Bolingbroke.  .  .  .  ). 
"Those  best  acquainted  with  antiquity  think  that 
these  books  (the  Pentateuch)  were  written  more 
than  seven  hundred  years  after  Moses"  (Dialogue 
16). 

Dr.  Mains  says,  "In  the  common  thought  Gene- 
sis has  been  received  as  the  oldest  Hebrew  litera- 
ture. It  has  been  assumed  that  Moses  was  its  au- 
thor. .  .  .  But  in  the  sense  in  which  these  as- 
sumptions were  held  they  are  denied,  and  univer- 


THE  BOOK  CONCERN  115 

sally  so,  by  modern  critical  thought.  .  .  .  Gene- 
sis, in  its  compilation  and  present  form,  is  one  of 
the  most  recent  books  of  the  Old  Testament.  .  .  . 
The  book  was  not,  and  could  not  have  been,  writ- 
ten by  the  hand  of  Moses"  (p.  98). 

Paine  said,  "The  Book  of  Genesis,  though  it  is 
placed  first  in  the  Bible  and  ascribed  to  Moses, 
has  been  manufactured  by  some  unknown  person 
after  the  Book  of  Chronicles  was  written,  which 
was  not  until  at  least  eight  hundred  and  sixty 
years  after  the  time  of  Moses"  (p.  99).  "The 
first  book  in  the  Bible  is  not  so  ancient  as  the  book 
of  Homer  by  more  than  three  hundred  years  and 
is  about  the  same  age  with  JE  sop's  Fables"  (p. 
92). 

Paine  also  said,  "The  Book  of  Genesis,  instead 
of  being  the  oldest  book  in  the  world,  as  the  Bishop 
called  it,  has  been  the  last  written  book  of  the 
Bible,  and  that  the  cosmogony  it  contains  has  been 
manufactured"  (Reply  to  the  Bishop  of  Llandaff, 
pp.  256,  257). 

Dr.  Mains  says,  "It  is  now  indubitably  proven 
that  many  of  the  stories  which  appear  in  the  ear- 
lier records  of  the  Old  Testament  were  simply 
taken  over  and  adapted  from  older  mythical  or 
legendary  sources,  and  that  they  are  not  to  be 
taken  at  face  value  as  sober  and  measured  his- 
tory" (p.  98). 

Paine  said,  "Take  away  from  Genesis  the  be- 
lief that  Moses  was  its  author,  on  which  only  the 
strange  belief  that  it  is  the  Word  of  God  has  stood, 
and  there   remains  nothing  in   Genesis  but   an 


116      BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

anonymous  book  of  stories,  fables  and  tradition- 
ary or  invented  absurdities  or  down-right  lies" 
(p.  86). 

Voltaire  also  said,  "Is  it  not  plain  that  Genesis 
was  taken  from  the  ancient  fables  of  their  (the 
Jewish)  neighbors"  (Ex.  of  Lord  Bolingbroke). 

Dr.  Mains  says,  "It  is  clear,  say  our  modern 
authorities,  that  he  (Moses)  could  not  have  been 
the  author  of  this  book  (Deuteronomy).  For 
reasons  equally  convincing,  it  is  evident  that  the 
book  must  be  the  product  of  a  period  or  periods 
far  later  than  that  of  Moses"  (p.  118).  "The  date 
of  its  origin  is  probably  not  far  from  the  middle 
of  the  sixth  century  B.C."  (p.  120). 

Paine  said,  "In  Deuteronomy  the  style  and  man- 
ner of  writing  marks  more  evidently  than  the  for- 
mer books  that  Moses  is  not  the  writer"  (p. 
81).  "Though  it  is  impossible  for  us  to  know 
identically  who  the  writer  of  Deuteronomy  was, 
it  is  not  difficult  to  discover  him  professionally, 
that  he  was  some  Jewish  priest  who  lived,  as  I 
shall  show  in  the  course  of  this  work,  at  least  850 
years  after  Moses"  (p.  83). 

Dr.  Mains  says,  "The  writers  of  Genesis  had  no 
authentic  knowledge  of  a  flood"  (p.  103).  He 
quotes,  approvingly,  from  Professor  Driver  as 
follows :  "We  are  forced,  consequently,  to  the  con- 
clusion that  the  flood,  as  described  by  the  biblical 
writers  is  unhistorical"  (p.  106). 

Paine  said,  "The  story  of  Eve  and  the  serpent, 
of  Noah  and  the  Ark,  drop  to  the  level  with  the 


THE  BOOK  CONCERN  117 

Arabian  tales,  without  being  as  entertaining"  (p. 
12). 

As  face  answers  to  face  in  water,  so  Dr.  Mains 
answers  to  Tom  Paine.  Their  business  is  the 
same.  Their  method  and  principles  are  the  same. 
Their  end  and  results  are  the  same.  Their  pur- 
pose may  not  be  the  same ;  but  that  makes  no  dif- 
ference, since  they  do  the  same.  Paine  was  only 
earlier  at  work,  but  following  the  same  rationalis- 
tic and  infidel  wake,  like  Dr.  Mains. 

John  Wesley  once  said,  "It  would  be  excusable 
if  these  menders  of  the  Bible  would  offer  their 
hypotheses  modestly.  But  one  cannot  excuse  them 
when  they  not  only  obtrude  their  novel  scheme 
with  the  utmost  confidence,  but  even  ridicule  that 
Scriptural  one  which  always  was,  and  is  now,  held 
by  men  of  the  greatest  learning  and  piety  in  the 
world,  thereby  they  promote  the  cause  of  infidelity 
more  effectually  than  either  Hume  or  Voltaire." 
He  called  such  teaching  "the  spawn  of  hell." 

This  book  was  published  about  two  years  ago. 
A  short  while  before,  I  spent  a  little  time  with  the 
late  Dr.  Homer  Eaton,  the  Senior  Agent  of  the 
Book  Concern.  He  then  told  me  that  Dr.  Mains 
had  written  this  book  and  intended  publishing  it; 
and,  that  he  had  objected  to  his  doing  so,  and  told 
him  it  was  a  great  mistake,  for  which  he  could  not 
be  responsible.  Dr.  Eaton  also  told  me  if  it  ever 
became  necessary  to  relieve  him  of  any  responsi- 
bility in  the  matter,  he  would  publish  to  the 
Church  what  he  had  told  me. 

Dr.  Mains  addressed  the  New  Jersey  Confer- 


118      BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

ence  at  Atlantic  City,  March  6,  1913,  on  the  work 
of  the  concern,  as  he,  or  some  one  else,  does  at  each 
of  the  conferences  in  the  connection  every  year. 
When  through  with  his  address  a  resolution  was 
offered  by  Dr.  Ridout,  of  Trenton,  expressing  re- 
gret that  the  Book  Concern  has  issued  some  books 
not  in  harmony  with  Methodist  doctrines ;  and  re- 
spectfully asking  the  book  committee  not  to  do  so 
any  more.  Nothing  whatever  was  said  about  Dr. 
Mains's  book,  but  he  construed  the  resolution  as 
referring  to  it  and  attempted  a  justification  of  the 
same  by  declaring  that  five  bishops  approved  of  it, 
and  that  it  was  in  harmony  with  the  teachings  of 
Methodist  schools  and  the  scholarship  of  the  civil- 
ized world.  Then  several  members  of  the  confer- 
ence expressed  themselves  in  such  a  very  frank 
manner  concerning  the  book  and  some  other  pub- 
lications of  the  concern  that  Dr.  Mains  was  made 
to  perspire  excessively. 

As  a  result  a  large  and  influential  committee 
was  appointed  to  make  a  careful  and  thorough 
investigation  of  the  literature  issued  by  the  Book 
Concern  and  report  to  the  next  conference. 

Dr.  Mains 's  statement  that  the  infidel  teachings 
of  his  book  were  ■ '  In  harmony  with  the  teachings 
of  Methodist  schools,"  confirms  what  I  have  said 
regarding  the  work  done  in  these  schools.  His 
declaration  "That  five  bishops  approve"  the  same 
is  in  the  nature  of  news,  yet  not  surprising.  I 
think  I  can  name  the  five.  Dr.  Mains  owed  it  to 
the  bishops  who  would  not  approve  such  teach- 
ings, to  name  the  five  who  did.    But  that  five 


THE  BOOK  CONCERN  119 

frishops  should  approve  such  teachings  as  Dr. 
Mains 's  book  contains,  is  real  occasion  for  alarm. 
If  the  Methodist  Church  will  stand  for  such  teach- 
ing, she  owes  an  apology  to  the  memory  of  Tom 
Paine  for  what  the  fathers  and  heroes  of  Metho- 
dism have  said  of  him  and  his  teachings ;  and,  to 
be  consistent,  should  place  a  memorial  statue  of 
the  arch  infidel  in  the  vestibule  of  the  New  York 
Book  Concern. 

I  have  now  before  me  an  advertisement  issued 
by  the  Book  Concern,  and  printed  in  all  the  official 
papers  of  the  Church,  which  reads  as  follows: — 

"HELPS  FOR  TEACHERS  AND  STUDENTS 

"The  International  Sunday-School  Lessons  for 
1907  will  be  from  the  Old  Testament,  and  every 
enterprising  teacher  will  need  an  equipment  for 
leading  the  class  in  the  study  of  those  lessons  of 
absorbing  interest  that  will  come  before  them 
from  week  to  week.  There  is  a  great  wealth  of 
splendid  works  that  are  of  value,  of  which  we  sug- 
gest the  following  list."  In  the  list  are  a  few  very 
good,  helpful  books;  quite  a  number  of  harmless 
ones ;  and  eighteen  that  are  by  such  men  as  Henry 
Preserve  Smith;  Lyman  Abbott;  M.  S.  Terry; 
George  Adam  Smith;  Charles  Foster  Kent;  Wm. 
North  Rice;  John  E.  McFadyen;  S.  R.  Driver; 
Wm.  R.  Harper  and  Washington  Gladden,  all  of 
which  are  rationalistic,  infidel  and  essentially  de- 
structive. Also  a  list  of  seventeen  books,  of  the 
same  sort  as  the  eighteen  above  referred  to,  made 
out  by  Professor  Robert  William  Rogers,  of  Drew 


120      BREAKERS !  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

Theological  Seminary.  Knowing  full  well  the  dan- 
gerous and  destructive  character  of  the  books  he 
recommends  he  adds:  "Finally,  let  the  reader  go 
slowly  amid  all  these  new  views,  not  resisting 
them,  but  studying  them  with  open-mindedness. 
Let  him  live  a  righteous  life,  hold  fast  a  personal 
communion  with  God  and  no  views  however  ex- 
treme they  may  seem  at  first,  will  do  any  injury 
to  his  personal  faith.  A  faith  based  upon  experi- 
ence will  not  topple  down  on  the  appearance  of 
any  new  view,  or  any  new  discovery.  The  Chris- 
tian faith  is  in  no  danger." 

And  this  Professor  presumably  teaches  young 
men,  called  of  God  to  preach  "The  Word,"  how  to 
do  it;  and  this  Methodist  Publishing  House  was 
founded  for  the  purpose  of  providing  literature 
for  our  people  in  harmony  with  our  standards  of 
doctrine.  The  Book  Concern  pushes  the  sale  of 
such  books  with  far  greater  energy  than  books  in 
harmony  with  God's  Word  and  Methodist  doc- 
trine ;  and  sells  them  by  tens  of  thousands ;  getting 
them  into  the  libraries  of  the  young  preachers,  and 
working  irreparable  mischief.  The  Agents  present 
to  each  Annual  Conference  a  draft  on  New  York 
for  several  hundred  dollars  for  the  worn-out 
preacher;  and  the  Conferences  applaud.  Profits 
from  the  sale  of  books  and  periodicals  containing 
infidel  objections  to  the  Bible  is  "Blood  Money"; 
and  if  I  was  a  worn-out  preacher,  I  would  go 
"Over  the  hill  to  the  poor  house,"  or  scrape  the 
streets  before  I  would  have  a  penny  thus  made; 
any  more  than  I  would  accept  money  made  from 


THE  BOOK  CONCEEN  121 

the  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors.  No  amount  of 
money  ought  to  make  us  blind  to  the  things  with 
which  we  should  have  no  part. 

But  our  Book  Agents  say,  "We  are  in  the  book 
business  and  must  supply  the  trade;"  and  this 
plea  justifies  them,  in  their  own  mind,  in  doing 
as  they  do ;  and,  in  selling  love-sick  novels  by  the 
car-load;  and  the  popular  magazines  with  their 
demoralizing  stories,  and  their  exaltation  of  the 
theater  and  theater  actors  and  actresses, — selling 
Teddy  Bears  and  Bryan  Donkeys,  and  all  sorts  of 
rubbish.  November  10, 1907, 1  sat  in  a  trolley  car, 
on  Vine  Street,  Cincinnati,  and  opposite  me  in  a 
panel  was  an  advertisement  of  the  Methodist  Book 
Store,  220  Fourth  Avenue,  West,  which  read  as 
follows : — "No,  you  are  mistaken !  We  do  not  sell 
merely  religious  books,  but  every  sort.  Fiction, 
Cook-books,  Classics,  Science  and  Poetry.  Books 
you  can't  get  anywhere  are  here  at  our  elbow  in 
huge  quantities."  The  Methodist  Church  has  no 
more  reason  for  running  a  publishing  house  and  a 
lot  of  book  stores,  that  are,  in  no  particular  sense, 
different  from  the  ordinary  publishing  house  and 
book  store,  than  for  operating  a  grist-mill  or  gro- 
cery store.  Our  sublime  mission  and  work  is  the 
salvation  of  men;  and  the  sooner  we  cut  out  the 
purely  secularities,  and  get  down  to  the  business 
for  which  God  raised  us  up  the  better  for  us  as  a 
church. 

The  periodical  literature  issued  by  the  Book 
Concern  is  voluminous  and  varied;  and  ought  to 
be    tremendously   influential    in    furthering    the 


122      BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

spiritual  work  of  the  Church ;  but  it  is  not  doing 
so.  I  have  already  shown  the  un-Methodistic  and 
ruinous  character  of  the  Sunday-school  literature. 
The  Methodist  Review  either  says  nothing  about 
the  really  vital  questions  before  the  Church,  or 
lines  up  on  the  wrong  side, — all  of  which  is  in  the 
interests  of  the  propaganda  of  the  Destruction- 
ists;  as  is  also  manifestly  the  policy  of  most  of 
the  Church  papers,  by  their  silence  and  otherwise. 

At  the  last  General  Conference,  Hon.  Marvin 
Campbell,  lay  delegate  from  the  Northwest  In- 
diana Conference,  made  some  startling  revelations 
concerning  the  Church  periodicals, — information 
that  the  Book  Committee  were  unwilling  to  give  to 
the  Church,  that  the  Church  had  a  right  to  know, 
and  ought  to  know.  Mr.  Campbell  was  three 
years  in  getting  this  information,  the  most  impor- 
tant of  which  is  as  follows : 

"A  great  many  Methodists,  devout  in  their  love 
for  the  Church  and  intensely  partial  to  its  every 
interest,  think  that  our  homes  could  be  supplied 
with  Christian  Journals,  superlative  in  quality 
and  sufficient  in  quantity  and  yet  at  a  handsome 
profit  instead  of  the  heavy  loss  that  has  hereto- 
fore obtained. 

Now,  bearing  in  mind  that  losses  to  our  pub- 
lishing houses  are  borne  wholly  by  our  Conference 
Claimants,  and  with  the  knowledge  that  at  least 
some  unofficial  Methodist  papers  have  shown  a 
fair  profit,  as  I  have  found  by  correspondence, 
what  total  amount  in  losses  to  our  official  papers 
and  subsidies  to  our  non-official  papers,  do  you 


THE  BOOK  CONCERN  123 

think  should  be  sanctioned  without  investigation 
as  to  the  necessity,  or  without  any  effort  to 
change  f  I  am  about  to  tell  you  the  amount  of  this 
one  source  of  loss  for  the  quadrennium.  ...  If  I 
have  correctly  tabulated  the  losses  for  the  quad- 
rennium, it  is  $212,502.02.    Divided  as  follows : 

Western  Christian  Advocate $12,882.47 

Northwestern  Christian  Advocate.   20,042.31 

Central  Christian  Advocate 392.32 

California  Christian  Advocate....  21,364.10 

Epworth  Herald 30,161.96 

Christian  Apologist 7,353.59 

Hearth  and  Home 1,223.57 

New  York  Advocate 5,940.30 

Methodist  Review  7,596.55 

Total  loss  on  official  papers $106,957.17 

Subsidies  to  other  papers 77,415.69 

Total  loss  upon  the  official  and  semi- 
official   $184,372.86 

Add  to  this  loss  upon  the  Journal 

Adult  Bible  Class 28,129.16 

Total  loss $212,502.02 

In  the  face  of  this  tremendous  loss,  supply  bills 
have  been  paid  promptly  and  without  compromise ; 
laborers  have  been  paid  fair  wages  and  without 
delay ;  advertising  agents  have  had  their  commis- 
sion without  discount;  Editors  have  had  salaries 
in  full— one  $1,500,  one  $2,500,  one  $3,000,  one 


124      BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

$4,000,  six  $4,500,  three,  $5,000.  Probably  all  have 
had  close  to  if  not  quite  as  much,  as  they  did  re- 
ceive or  would  get  for  other  classes  of  work. 

Not  a  person  from  whom  purchases  have  been 
made,  not  an  employee,  not  an  agent,  not  an  edi- 
tor, in  short,  not  a  man  in  any  way  associated  with 
these  papers  has  been  embarrassed  by  this  $212,- 
000.00  loss,  and  further  the  industrial  credit  is  as 
good  as  the  best  rating  in  Dun  or  Bradstreets. 

You  have  borne  no  part  of  this  loss,  neither  have 
I.  The  congregation  of  which  you  are  a  member 
has  not  shared  in  this  loss.  The  congregation  of 
which  I  am  a  member  has  taken  no  part  of  this 
loss.  Every  dollar  of  this  $212,000  has  been  borne 
by  the  superannuates  of  the  Church." 

The  above  is  from  his  address  to  the  General 
Conference,  and,  of  course,  created  a  sensation. 

The  matter  was  brought  before  the  Committee 
on  Book  Concern,  of  which  I  was  a  member.  It 
was  proposed  to  unite  the  "Western,  Northwestern 
and  Central  Advocates,  whch  together,  showed  a 
total  loss  for  the  quadrennium  of  $33,219.10.  But 
that  meant  to  do  away  with  two  sets  of  highly- 
paid  editors  and  their  staffs;  and,  as  the  publish- 
ers, nearly  all  the  members  of  the  Book  Commit- 
tee, and  numerous  editors  and  assistant  editors 
were  on  the  committee,  the  proposition  was  not 
viewed  with  favor.  It  was  decided  to  reduce  the 
price  of  these  three  papers  from  two  dollars  and 
a  half,  per  annum,  to  one  dollar.  In  addressing 
the  committee,  I  said,  among  other  things — "Our 
people  do  not  want  cheaper  papers,  but  better 


THE  BOOK  CONCERN  125 

papers ;  papers  loyal  to  the  Bible  and  the  doctrines 
of  the  Church;  and  not  trimming  in  the  interests 
of  a  propaganda  that  proposes  to  revolutionize 
Methodism.  Mollycoddleism  and  Dilettanteism 
will  never  make  a  popular  paper  with  sensible 
Methodists.  They  care  mighty  little  for  the  'Re- 
ligious element  in  Browning;'  but  a  great  deal 
about  the  religious  element  in  our  theater-going, 
card-playing,  dancing,  ritualistic,  rule-defying, 
back-slidden  members;  as  to  how  such  can  be  led 
to  repent  and  do  their  first  works,  and  the  Church 
become  what  it  should  always  be,  an  all-conquer- 
ing host,  to  win  the  lost  to  Jesus  Christ  for  salva- 
tion here  and  hereafter.  With  the  large,  influen- 
tial constituency  these  three  papers  have,  if  they 
were  loyally  and  ruggedly  Scriptural  and  Metho- 
distic,  they  would  receive  such  support  as  would 
soon  make  them  bring  large  profits  to  the  pub- 
lishers.'y 

One  of  our  honored  Bishops  some  time  ago  de- 
livered himself  as  follows: 

"A  strange  indifference  to  the  success  of  our 
own  publications  has  come  over  many  of  our  pas- 
tors and  people." 

"What  does  it  mean?  It  means  a  steady  trend 
away  from  Methodist  ideals.  It  means  decreasing 
intelligence,  decreasing  loyalty,  decreasing  sym- 
pathy toward  our  connectional  institutions." 

The  responsibility  for  this  "Indifference"  is  not 
with  "pastors  and  people,"  but  with  those  who 
edit  and  make  the  papers.  Our  pastors  and  peo- 
ple, for  the  most  part,  are  in  profound  sympathy 


126      BREAKEES!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

with  our  ' '  connectional  institutions ;"  but,  are  al- 
together too  intelligent  to  assist  in  the  circulation 
of  publications  that  are  not  out  and  out  for  things 
Methodism  stands  for,  and  that  teach  "erroneous 
and  strange  doctrines  contrary  to  the  Word  of 
God,"  even  though  they  are  issued  by  the  Book 
Concern.  Here  is  a  concrete  case  by  way  of  illus- 
tration :  In  its  issue  of  June  16,  1909,  The  West- 
ern Christian  Advocate  had  a  front  page  portrait 
of  the  late  Edward  Everett  Hale,  a  Unitarian 
preacher;  and  a  full  page  panegyric  of  the  honor- 
able, elegant  and  distinguished  gentleman.  But  he 
was  a  denier  of  the  Deity  of  our  Lord  and  op- 
posed to  the  fundamental  things  of  Methodism. 
Has  the  organ  of  the  Unitarian  Church  ever  ac- 
corded such  honors  to  any  loyal  and  distinguished 
Methodist?  And  the  same  question  may  be  perti- 
nently asked  with  regard  to  the  Western  Advocate 
itself,  under  the  present  management.  Dr.  Gilbert 
has  eulogized  some  distinguished  Methodists,  it  is 
true ;  but,  in  nearly  every  instance,  they  have  been 
men  in  sympathy  with  higher  criticism  and  so 
called  "New  Theology,' '  with  which  he  himself 
is  in  full  sympathy ;  and  as  the  logic  of  such  views 
is  a  denial  of  the  Deity  of  our  Lord,  he  has  a 
kindly  feeling  for  good  Unitarians.  Does  any  one 
remember  seeing  in  The  Western  under  the  pres- 
ent editor  a  front  page  portrait  of  James  Haven, 
Joseph  Tarkington,  James  B.  Finday,  Granville 
Moody  and  other  of  the  great  and  noble  men,  who 
gave  their  lives  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  within  the  very  territory  where  this  paper 


THE  BOOK  CONCERN  127 

most  circulates,  or  eulogies  of  their  heroic  achieve- 
ments? But  it  is  urged  that  the  death  of  Dr.  Hale 
was  in  the  nature  of  news.  But  the  Western  Ad- 
vocate is  not  a  newspaper.  People  that  want  the 
news  go  to  the  daily  papers,  and  the  magazines. 
The  mission  and  business  of  our  Church  publica- 
tions is  to  propagate  the  religion  of  our  Lord  and 
Saviour,  and  further  the  interests  of  Methodism; 
and  when  they  do  this,  they  will  receive  the  most 
hearty  and  generous  support  of  all  sensible  and 
loyal  Methodists. 

The  entire  front  page  of  the  Western  for  June 
2,  1909,  is  taken  up  by  an  article  of  which  George 
A.  Gordon,  D.D.,  pastor  of  the  Old  South  Congre- 
gational Church,  of  Boston,  is  the  author.  Dr. 
Gordon  is  known  to  be  one  of  the  most  advanced 
"new  theology"  advocates;  and  has  no  sympathy 
whatever  with  the  fundamental  doctrines  of 
Methodism.  Do  any  of  the  readers  of  the  Western 
remember  any  Methodist  who  believes  the  Bible 
to  be  the  Word  of  God,  and  is  unswervingly  loyal 
to  our  doctrines,  being  similarly  honored?  And 
why?  There  is  but  one  reply  to  be  given.  The 
editor  being  in  sympathy  with  the  so-called  ' '  New 
theology"  is  using  his  office  and  influence  to  pro- 
mote the  propaganda  that  has  for  its  object  the 
revolutionizing  of  Methodism.  And  this  explains 
why  the  paper  had,  the  first  of  this  year,  about 
half  as  many  subscribers  as  it  had  when  Dr.  Gil- 
bert became  its  editor,  and  that  in  spite  of  official 
influence  and  denominational  pride. 

The  good  bishop  also  said  (and  he  is  a  good 


128      BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

bishop,  loyal  to  the  Bible  and  Methodist  doctrines 
and  usages) :  "It  ought  to  be  understood  that  a 
Methodist  Episcopal  minister  who  does  not  push 
the  circulation  of  our  papers  has  gone  mentally 
and  spiritually  astray,  and  that  a  Methodist 
Church  member  whose  home  is  not  supplied  with 
at  least  one  of  the  Advocates  is  in  disgrace." 

A  Methodist  minister  is  under  solemn  obliga- 
tions to  God  and  the  Church  to  keep  the  wolf  out 
of  the  fold, — as  certainly  when  he  seeks  to  enter 
through  the  Church  publications  as  by  any  other 
way;  and  he  will  meet  these  obligations  unless  he 
is  "a  hireling."  And  a  man  who  keeps  out  of  his 
home  publications  that  challenge  the  integrity  of 
God's  Word  and  deny  its  authority,  and  are  not 
loyal  to  Methodist  doctrines,  rules  and  laws,  is  not 
in  disgrace,  but  is  deserving  of  all  honor  for  his 
intelligent  and  conscientious  devotion  to  the  wel- 
fare of  his  household,  and  is  a  credit  to  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
EVANGELISM 

"Go  ye  therefore,  and  make  disciples  of  all  nations." — Jesus. 
"The  world  is  my  Parish." — Wesley. 

THE  first  and  supreme  work  of  the  Church  is 
that  of  conquest.  She  is  to  go  into  the  streets 
and  lanes  of  the  city,  and  highways  and  hedges, 
and  bring  in  the  poor,  the  maimed,  the  halt  and  the 
blind.  Doing  this  in  loyalty  to  the  Divine  Com- 
mand, and  according  to  Divine  directions,  she  shall 
be  enlarged,  and  enriched  in  all  the  graces  of  the 
spirit.  Failing  here,  she  will  fail  in  all  things 
besides ;  for  the  Church  that  is  unevangelistic  soon 
becomes  unevangelical,  formal  and  worldly. 

Methodism,  like  the  Christian  Church  and  the 
churches  of  Reformation  times,  was  born  and 
cradled  in  a  tempest  of  revival  fire;  and,  as  long 
as  her  preachers  in  holy  fervor  proclaimed  the 
pure  ''Gospel  of  the  blessed  God,"  those  fires  con- 
tinued to  burn,  and  she  became  numerically  great 
and  strong.  But,  like  Israel  of  old,  in  their  pros- 
perity they  forgot  God.  Little  by  little  the  temp- 
tation to  please  men  was  yielded  to  by  some,  and 
then  standards  of  truth  and  discipline  were  low- 
ered until  the  world  came  in  like  a  flood,  sweep- 
ing away  barriers  and  quenching  the  zeal  of  many. 
Gradually  intellectual  pride  has  destroyed  the  f  er- 

129 


130      BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

vor  of  many  a  pulpit  that  once  blazed  and  glowed 
with  holy  fire,  and  formality  and  unbelief  domi- 
nate the  same.  Revivals,  once  characteristic  of 
Methodism,  have  become  fewer  and  less  effective 
until  spiritual  inertia  and  inanition  are  not  un- 
common. Other  means  than  the  divinely  ap- 
pointed are  freely  resorted  to ;  but,  of  course,  the 
lack  has  not  been  supplied.  Bishops,  editors,  sec- 
retaries and  others  animadvert  against  evangelists 
and  their  work  as  the  authorities  in  the  Church 
of  England  did  against  the  Wesleys,  Whitefield 
and  their  associates,  and  their  work,  until  opposi- 
tion to  revivals  is  very  widespread  among  the 
churches  and  pastors, — many  of  them  not  believ- 
ing in  them  at  all.  And  thus  the  Church  has  for- 
gotten the  pit  from  which  she  was  digged.  "How 
are  the  mighty  fallen ! ' ' 

For  example, — Thirty  to  forty  years  ago  the 
Methodist  churches  in  Boston  were,  as  a  rule, 
crowded,  and  Methodist  altars  thronged.  The 
preachers  believed  the  Bible  to  be  the  Word  of 
God,  and  were  loyal  to  the  doctrines  of  the  historic 
faith,  and  preached  with  authority  and  power. 
The  School  of  Theology,  once  loyal  to  the  Bible 
and  Methodist  doctrine,  slipped  its  anchorage, 
and  drifted, — taking  up  with  Higher  Criticism, 
and  promulgating  the  same,  not  only  in  its  classes 
but  widely  through  New  England  Methodist, 
churches,  in  the  columns  of  Z ion's  Herald.  Not  a 
few  pastors  took  up  with  the  false  teaching. 
Others  were  afraid  to  bear  such  testimony  against 
it,  as  by  solemn  ordination  vows  they  were  under 


EVANGELISM  131 

obligations  to  do.  The  Holy  Spirit  was  grieved 
by  the  dishonor  thus  put  upon  God's  Holy  Word, 
and  the  fires  were  quenched;  until  for  the  past 
ten  years  empty  pews  and  deserted  altars  are  the 
rule;  and  the  six  New  England  Conferences,  with 
1,052  churches,  during  these  ten  years  show  a  gain 
of  but  6,046  members,  and  several  hundred  of  them 
came  from  a  revival  meeting  in  Boston  conducted 
by  a  Presbyterian ;  and  the  population  in  the  ter- 
ritory covered  by  these  six  conferences  increased, 
during  that  time  about  14  per  cent. 

What  is  true  of  the  New  England  Conferences 
is  measurably  true  of  many  other  conferences, — 
indeed,  throughout  the  whole  Church  spiritual 
death  seems  to  prevail.  The  Church  has  a  vast 
and  complicated  machinery,  with  organizations, 
societies  and  agents  in  large  numbers;  but  the 
fires  are  burning  low  or  are  gone  out,  until  it  looks 
like  Ezekiel's  vision  of  ''Dry  bones."  I  know  the 
statistics  for  the  whole  Church  show  considerable 
increase  of  membership,  but  apart  from  the  work 
in  the  foreign  field,  they  are  not  creditable  to  us, 
— especially  when  we  know  that  very  many  per- 
sons are  admitted  to  membership  who  know  noth- 
ing, experimentally,  of  regeneration — that  is,  the 
bars  are  so  low,  that  it  is  easy  to  get  in,  especially 
if  one  has  money  and  influence.  This  is  from  the 
Episcopal  Address  to  the  last  General  Conference : 
— "When  we  think  of  the  millions  of  dollars  our 
people  are  investing  in  beautiful  modern  church 
buildings,  in  Christian  Schools,  in  home  and  for- 
eign missions,  in  orphanages,  homes  for  the  aged, 


132      BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

and  in  great  hospitals — and  then  of  all  the  chil- 
dren born  in  their  homes,  and  the  millions  of  other 
children  who  attend  our  Sunday-schools,  and  from 
all  adult  conversions  throughout  our  entire  con- 
nection, we  have  a  reported  increase  of  but  55,000 
to  our  church  membership,  less  than  2  per  cent., 
as  the  outcome  of  a  year's  activity  and  the  outlay 
of  so  many  millions  of  dollars,  it  is  then  we  trem- 
ble for  the  Church.  The  statistical  paradox  glares 
us  out  of  countenance.  It  shames  and  humiliates 
us.  Only  tears  of  repentance  become  us;  our 
hearts  bleed  contrition.  If  the  soul  be  dying  within 
us,  what  have  we  to  legislate  for?  What  are  hon- 
ors or  offices  worth  in  an  army  that  does  not  win 
battles?" 

While  the  Methodist  Church  has  been  lagging  in 
evangelistic  work,  the  conservative,  staid  old 
Presbyterian  Church,  formerly  opposed  to  reviv- 
als, has  awakened  to  the  divine  order  and  method, 
and  gone  to  the  front  as  a  revival  church.  She 
expelled  Professors  Briggs  and  Smith  for  false 
teaching  concerning  the  Bible — which  things  are 
to-day  being  openly  taught  in  some  Methodist 
schools,  and  disowned  Union  Theological  Semi- 
nary for  the  same  reason.  She  also,  in  a  most 
unequivocal  manner,  put  herself  on  record  as  to 
the  Bible  being  the  Word  of  God.  She  then  de- 
clared for  aggressive  soul-saving  work.  A  proper 
committee  was  appointed ;  a  competent  leader  was 
chosen,  money  was  provided;  evangelists  were 
sought  out,  commended  and  put  to  work ;  and  the 
whole  Church  gave  the  movement  the  right  of  way 


EVANGELISM  133 

and  all  possible  encouragement;  and  to-day  the 
Presbyterian  Church  (all  honor  to  her)  leads  all 
the  denominations  in  evangelistic  work. 

I  know  it  has  been  urged  by  many  in  authority 
in  the  Methodist  Church,  that  "  Every  pastor 
should  be  his  own  evangelist."  While  it  is  true 
some  pastors  have  the  evangelistic  gift,  such  dec- 
laration is  contrary  to  the  divine  order.  "When 
He  ascended  on  high  He  gave  some,  apostles; 
some,  prophets ;  and  some,  evangelists ;  and  some, 
pastors  and  teachers;  for  the  perfecting  of  the 
saints,  unto  the  work  of  ministering,  unto  the 
building  up  of  the  body  of  Christ, ' '  etc.  Eph.  iv  :8- 
16,  R.  V.  Five  offices  of  the  Christian  ministry. 
By  no  law  of  exegesis  or  rule  of  interpretation 
can  it  be  made  to  appear  that  the  office  of  the  pas- 
tor includes  the  office  of  the  evangelist  any  more 
than  that  it  includes  the  apostolic  office.  No ;  this 
Scripture  teaches  us  that  the  office  and  work  of  the 
evangelist  are  as  necessary  to  the  work  of  the 
Church  as  that  of  the  pastor,  and  the  sooner  the 
authorities  in  the  Methodist  Church  recognize  the 
divine  order,  the  better  it  will  be  for  the  Church 
they  represent.  Of  course,  there  is  a  sense  in 
which  all  pastors,  and  for  that  matter  all  Chris- 
tians, should  be  soul- winners ;  but  that  does  not 
constitute  them  evangelists.  Then  we  certainly 
do  know  that  many  Methodist  pastors  have  in  no 
degree  the  evangelistic  gift.  In  the  early  times 
the  Methodist  preacher  was  an  evangelist,  rather 
than  a  pastor.  As  a  result  of  his  work  great 
churches  came  into  existence;  and  conditions  are 


134      BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

now  very  different.  The  pastor  who  has  a  church 
with  from  500  to  1,000  members,  to  make  and 
preach  two  or  more  sermons  a  week ;  lead  the  mid- 
week and  other  services;  make  numerous  ad- 
dresses ;  marry  the  living,  visit  the  sick,  bury  the 
dead,  comfort  the  sorrowing  and  do  the  1,000  and 
1  other  things  that  he  must  do  unless  he  slights 
his  work,  is  a  most  extraordinary  man,  if  he  can 
additionally  conduct  an  evangelistic  campaign  of 
three  or  more  weeks'  duration,  each  year.  The 
late  Dr.  J.  O.  Peck  did  it ;  but  he  would  have  lived 
twenty  years  longer  had  he  obeyed  the  divine  or- 
der. The  present  movement  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church  recognizes  the  divine  order ;  the  Methodist 
Church  does  not.  At  the  General  Conference  at 
Omaha,  the  office  and  work  of  the  evangelist  was 
formally  recognized.  But  since  then,  whenever 
a  bishop  had  a  man  for  whom  he  could  not  find  a 
place,  he  would  appoint  him  Conference  Evan- 
gelist; and,  though  occasionally  a  good,  fit  man 
was  appointed  to  this  office  and  work,  the  great 
majority  thus  appointed  were  in  no  real  sense 
evangelists  or  competent  to  do  evangelistic  work, 
and  the  office  has  been  thereby  made  the  subject 
of  ridicule  and  contempt. 

Everywhere  throughout  the  length  and  breadth 
of  the  land,  inside  and  outside  the  Church,  the 
question  has  been  and  is  being  asked — What  is 
the  matter  with  the  Methodist  Church  that  she  has 
lost  her  fire  and  fervor!  and  let  the  Presbyterian 
Church  take  the  lead  in  soul-saving  work?  Be- 
cause of  these  things  the  Rock  River  Conference, 


EVANGELISM  135 

— and  others — memorialized  the  General  Confer- 
ence at  Los  Angeles  to  take  such  action  as  would 
place  the  Methodist  Church  where  she,  by  virtue 
of  her  record,  belongs — at  the  head  of  the  proces- 
sion. I  was  a  member  of  that  Conference,  and, 
of  the  Special  Committee  to  which  this  memorial 
was  referred.  We  prayerfully  and  carefully  con- 
sidered the  matter.  We  believed  that  in  the  great 
body  of  her  local  preachers  and  evangelists,  to- 
gether with  the  pastors  of  an  evangelistic  mind 
and  spirit,  the  Church  had  the  men  for  such  a 
forward  movement  as  would  shake  the  very  foun- 
dations of  sin  and  hell;  and  that  all  that  was 
needed  was  organization  and  leadership.  We 
therefore  reported  in  favor  of  appointing  a  Com- 
mission that  should  have  control  and  give  direc- 
tion. This  report  was  received  and  adopted.  But 
when  the  Commission  was  appointed,  the  "Fine 
Italian"  hand  of  ecclesiastical  politics  was  seen, 
in  that  some  men  were  put  upon  the  Commission 
who  were  incompetent,  while  some  who  were  in 
every  way  qualified  and  should  have  been  ap- 
pointed, were  passed  by,  and  so  the  movement 
was  sacrificed  upon  the  altar  of  personal  ends  and 
preferment.  The  honored  chairman  of  the  Com- 
mission, together  with  several  Commissioners  who 
were  of  his  mind  as  to  what  should  be  done,  la- 
bored diligently  for  two  years  to  bring  things  to 
pass;  but  having  little  or  no  money,  and  being 
otherwise  handicapped,  nothing  much  was  accom- 
plished. At  a  meeting  of  the  Commission,  at 
Ocean  Grove,  some  of  the  New  York  brethren, 


136      BEEAKERS !  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

taking  advantage  of  the  enforced  absence  of  the 
chairman,  relieved  him  of  executive  control  and 
placed  it  in  the  hands  of  one  not  a  member  of  the 
Commission,  whom  they  designated  as  Executive 
Secretary.  This  brother,  an  honored,  able  and  suc- 
cessful pastor,  but  with  little  experience  in  evan- 
gelistic work  and  without  the  evangelistic  temper 
and  message  in  any  marked  degree,  opened  an 
office  in  New  York  and  called  to  his  assistance 
several  other  gentlemen,  no  more  capable  than 
himself.  A  lot  of  printed  matter  was  issued,  gen- 
erous with  suggestions  to  pastors  and  churches  as 
to  what  they  should  do.  Most  of  the  pastors  re- 
sented the  same  and  threw  the  communications  in 
the  waste  paper  basket  or  fire.  These  gentlemen 
usurped  valuable  time  at  annual  conferences  in 
telling  pastors  nothing  new,  and  conducting  evan- 
gelistic meetings  that  were  quite  novel  to  old- 
time  Methodists.  They  organized  and  conducted 
some  evangelistic  conferences  in  some  of  the  chief 
cities,  in  the  calls  to  which  they  declared — "Con- 
troversy of  every  form  and  phase  is  to  be  elimi- 
nated."* Many  men  on  the  programmes  of  these 
conferences  knew  little  or  nothing  about  evange- 
listic work;  but  being  influential,  they  were  put 
forward,  manifestly  to  give  caste  to  the  movement, 
or  to  further  the  personal  schemes  of  the  projec- 

•Tn  a  letter  to  the  late  Bishop  McCabe,  signed  by  two  members 
of  the  commission  in  sympathy  with  the  policy  of  the  Executive 
Secretary,  occurs  the  following:  "We  have  no  controversy  with 
evangelists.  We  share  in  no  controversy,  either  critical  or  doc- 
trinal." 


EVANGELISM  137 

tors;  and,  in  every  instance  these  conferences 
failed  of  accomplishing  anything  in  the  way  of 
an  awakening  along  the  line  of  soul-saving  work. 
Then  extensive  evangelistic  campaigns  were  ar- 
ranged. Large  numbers  of  pastors  and  churches 
responded  to  the  call  and  fell  into  line;  and  thus 
fine  opportunities  for  great  things  were  offered ; 
but  as  they  ignored  evangelists,  save  one,  and  had 
little  experience  in  such  campaigning;  and  re- 
solved to  "Eliminate  every  form  and  phase  of 
controversy,"  the  movements  resulted  in  failure. 
I  know  these  campaigns  were  written  up  for  the 
Church  papers  as  being  very  wonderful  and  suc- 
cessful, but  they  were  not.  The  meetings  in  In- 
dianapolis, for  instance.  A  prominent  Methodist 
layman  writing  me  some  weeks  after  these  meet- 
ings says,  "If  we  never  have  any  greater  revivals 
than  the  Revival  in  this  city,  the  future  of  the 
Church  and  of  the  city  is  certainly  to  be  very 
much  deplored." 

The  executive  secretary  of  the  Commission  as- 
sumed the  right  to  give  direction  to  the  evangelis- 
tic campaign,  in  connection  with  the  sessions  of 
the  1908  General  Conference.  The  Baltimore  pas- 
tors fell  into  line.  Proper  and  influential  commit- 
tees were  appointed  and  $3,000  pledged  for  ex- 
penses. The  secretary  took  things  in  hand.  A 
great  opportunity  was  his;  but  favoritism  and 
personal  ends  apparently  ruled  in  the  selection  of 
his  assistants  and  in  directing  the  movement,  and 
a  dismal  failure  was  the  result.   He  is  now  an  ar- 


138      BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

dent  advocate  of  the  unscriptural  and  unsensible 
theory  of  " Every  pastor  his  own  Evangelist." 

The  work  of  the  General  Conference  Commis- 
sion on  Evangelism  for  the  four  years  following 
the  Los  Angeles  General  Conference  having 
failed  to  accomplish  the  desired  results,  it  was 
up  to  the  General  Conference  at  Baltimore  to  take 
the  thing  in  hand.  The  whole  matter  was  referred 
to  the  bishops.  They  decided  to  continue  the  Com- 
mission with  some  changes,  and  appointed  five  of 
their  number  to  have  control  and  give  direction. 
Three  of  these  bishops,  if  not  four,  never  had  a 
real  revival  when  they  were  in  the  pastorate,  and 
I  am  inclined  to  think  that  two  of  them  do  not  be- 
lieve in  revivals  in  any  real  Scriptural  and  Metho- 
dist sense  at  all.  They  are  issuing  proclamations 
much  as  did  the  former  Commission,  with  the 
same  results.  The  last  one,  as  published  in  the 
Christian  Advocate,  July  22,  1909,  bears  the  title 
— "Wanted:  A  Supply  of  Pluri-Lingual  Preach- 
ers." In  view  of  the  fact  that  peoples  of  many 
tongues  are  coming  to  our  land;  and  also  that 
Paul  could  preach  in  Hebrew  and  Greek,  and  pre- 
sumably in  Latin,  these  bishops  are  calling  for 
"evangelists  and  pastors  and  teachers  possessing 
the  linguistic  equipment  of  Paul."  This  is  all 
right;  and  there  is  quite  as  much  reason  for  the 
bishops  themselves  being  "Pluri-Lingual  Preach- 
ers." But  the  business  of  these  gentlemen,  as  di- 
rectors of  the  Commission  on  Evangelism,  is  not 
to  start  a  school  of  languages,  but  to  organize  the 
men — and  women,  too — who  can  preach  the  Gos- 


EVANGELISM  139 

pel  in  one  tongue,  into  a  movement  that  will 
awaken  and  vitalize  all  the  competent  and  avail- 
able forces  of  the  Church  for  immediate,  direct 
and  effective  soul-saving  work.  Will  this  be  done? 
I  for  one,  believe  it  will  not  be  done — at  least  by 
the  present  Commission.  The  report  of  this  Com- 
mission to  the  last  General  Conference  was  made 
up  chiefly  of  glittering  generalities,  and  contained 
no  real  solution  of  the  tremendously  solemn  and 
weighty  problem.  In  the  speeches  that  preceded 
the  adoption  of  the  report,  made  by  men,  with  a 
single  exception,  who  had  no  real  experience  in 
revival  work,  much  was  said  about  personal  evan- 
gelism; every  pastor  being  his  own  evangelist; 
not  joining  in  union  meetings;  not  inviting  out- 
siders to  conduct  meetings;  sane  evangelism,  etc. 
I  am  fully  convinced  that  any  evangelizing  move- 
ment having  official  sanction  and  control,  will  be 
so  handicapped  by  ecclesiastical  politics  and  fa- 
voritism as  to  make  success  impossible.  But  will 
there  be  no  relief  of  a  general  character  from  the 
widespread  unspiritual  conditions  that  exist?  I 
believe  there  will,  but  it  must  come,  as  did  the 
Wesleyan  movement,  unheralded,  spontaneously, 
without  episcopal  authority  or  Church  patronage 
officially ;  and  I  fear,  as  was  the  case  of  the  Wes- 
leyan movement,  in  opposition  to  the  same. 

An  editorial  in  the  Northwestern  Christian  Ad- 
vocate, an  organ  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  in  its  issue  of  May  22,  1912,  bearing  the 
title  "A  Call  to  the  Newer  Evangelism,"  con- 
tained the  following  paragraph : 


140      BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

"There  is  an  old-fashioned  evangelism  of  the 
fathers.  The  very  suggestion  of  it  brings  up  recol- 
lections of  the  circuit  rider,  his  humble  but  wel- 
come appearance;  his  temple  the  unadorned 
schoolhouse  or  the  freer  glade  in  the  forest;  his 
message  the  doom  of  sin  and  the  grace  of  God; 
his  altar  of  sacrifice  the  mourner's  bench;  his  re- 
ward the  tears  of  the  penitent  and  the  shining 
faces  of  the  redeemed;  his  glory  a  transformed 
community.  The  story  of  that  evangelism  is  the 
crown  of  Methodism's  rejoicing.  The  saints  would 
fain  return  to  it.  Unhappily  the  conditions  that 
made  it  possible  no  longer  exist.  The  whole  tenor 
of  our  modern  living  and  thinking  is  against  it. 
One  can  no  more  go  back  to  it  than  he  could  go 
back  to  the  simple  fare  and  dress  of  that  time  or  to 
its  simple  and  primitive  way  of  thinking  about  the 
heavens,  the  earth,  the  sea  and  all  that  in  them  is. 
One  may  regret  the  change,  but  one  must  recog- 
nize it  and  reckon  with  it. ' ' 

And  now  this  closing  word.  While  admitting 
there  are  some  problems  for  us  to  solve  that  be- 
long to  these  times  peculiarly,  that  demand 
methods  our  fathers  did  not  employ,  in  prosecut- 
ing the  work  of  the  Church,  we  insist  that  the 
way  of  life  and  salvation  is  eternally  the  same. 
No  new  Bible,  no  new  doctrines,  no  new  conditions 
are  needed.  The  old  Bible  is  God's  Word  and  still 
the  power  of  God  unto  salvation  to  all  who  be- 
lieve. The  old  doctrines,  the  doctrines  of  the  his- 
toric faith,  are  still  profitable,  "That  the  man  of 


EVANGELISM  141 

God  may  be  perfect,  thoroughly  furnished  unto  all 
good  works." 

As  indicated  in  their  address,  the  bishops  know 
full  well  what  is  the  trouble  with  the  Methodist 
Church  and  the  cause  of  it — i.  e.,  the  dishonor  put 
upon  God's  Holy  Word  in  school,  pulpit  and  pe- 
riodical, and  tolerated  by  the  Church;  because  of 
which  the  Holy  Spirit  has  been  grieved,  and  has 
withdrawn  Himself;  and  the  Church,  being  with- 
out the  Spirit,  is  hewing  out  cisterns  that  can  hold 
no  water.  Also  they  know  the  way  out  of  the 
trouble.  Have  they  the  courage  to  deal  with  the 
case  as  it  must  be  dealt  with  before  they  can  rea- 
sonably expect  Divine  help  ?  And  will  they  do  it  ? 
If  they  will,  then  and  not  until  then,  will  the  Lord 
do  His  part,  in  His  way,  and  "times  of  refresh- 
ing shall  come  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord." 


CHAPTER  IX 
THE  EPISCOPACY 

"Whosoever  will  be  chief  among  you,  let  him  be  your  servant." 
Matt,  xx :  27. 

"Exercising  the  oversight,  not  of  constraint,  but  willingly,  not 
for  filthy  lucre,  but  of  a  ready  mind:  Neither  as  being  lords  over 
God's  heritage :  but  being  ensamples  to  the  flock."    1  Peter  v :  2,  3. 

THE  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has  always 
believed  in  only  two  orders  of  the  ministry, 
i.e.,  Elder  and  Deacon.  The  difference  between 
Episcopos  and  Presbyteros  is  no  more  than  the 
difference  between  Tweedle-dee  and  Tweedle-dum. 
Therefore,  the  so-called  bishops  are  properly  and 
rightly  denominated  General  Superintendents, 
and  never  should  be  called  Bishops.  Theirs  is  an 
office  and  not  an  order.  In  1884  a  Bishop  for 
Africa,  William  Taylor,  was  elected,  and  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  passed  by  a  very  large  majority 
the  following: 

"Resolved,  That  we  reaffirm  the  doctrine  of  the 
Fathers  of  our  Church,  that  the  Bishopric  is  not 
an  order  but  an  office,  and  that  in  orders  a  Bishop 
is  merely  an  Elder  or  Presbyter." 

The  itinerant  system  requires  supervision. 
Hence  men  are  chosen  as  general  and  district  su- 
perintendents. The  General  Superintendent  be- 
ing empowered  with  authority  to  station  the 
preachers.  The  District  Superintendents  have  su- 

142 


THE  EPISCOPACY  143 

pervision  over  the  work  within  the  bounds  of  their 
districts  in  the  interim  of  the  sessions  of  the  an- 
nual conference;  and  together  constitute  the 
''Cabinet"  for  information  and  advice.  The  Gen- 
eral Conference  elects  the  General  Superinten- 
dents for  life,  and  the  General  Superintendents 
appoint  the  District  Superintendents  for  a  year, 
and  may  continue  to  do  so  for  six  consecutive 
years,  upon  the  same  district.  A  District  Super- 
intendent may  have  more  than  six  years'  contin- 
uous service,  if  he  shall  be  appointed  to  another 
district,  though  such  action  is  usually  thought  to 
be  unwise  and  unjust. 

In  the  early  times  when  the  Church  was  poor 
and  numerically  and  financially  feeble,  but  spirit- 
ual and  mighty,  the  superintendents  were  elected 
and  appointed  after  earnestly  waiting  upon  God ; 
and  preachers  and  people,  pretty  generally,  con- 
fidently believed  that  the  General  Superintendents 
were  divinely  guided  in  making  the  appointments, 
and  whatever  the  appointment  the  preacher  re- 
ceived, he  accepted  it  thankfully,  and  went  to  his 
work  gladly;  and  the  people  welcomed  him  even 
though  he  was  not  the  man  they  may  have  wanted, 
and  gave  him  hearty  support,  because  they  be- 
lieved he  was  sent  according  to  the  will  of  God. 

But  all  this  has  changed.  The  most  of  people 
now  believe  that  the  Lord  has  very  little  to  do 
with  electing  and  appointing  the  Superintendents, 
and  less  to  do  with  stationing  the  preachers; 
though  they  all  know  He  often  overrules  in  the 
affairs  of  the  Church.    Because  of  this,  jealousies, 


144      BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

bickerings,  strife  and  unrest  are  widely  and  in- 
creasingly prevalent  in  the  churches;  and  hos- 
tility to,  and  even  open  rebellion  against,  the 
recognized  order  of  the  Church  and  her  rightly 
constituted  authorities  is  known  to  exist, — a  nat- 
ural result  of  which  is  spiritual  death  and  declen- 
sion. Are  there  any  real  reasons  for  any  one  be- 
lieving thus?  I,  for  one,  believe  there  are.  Let 
me  state  several.  First,  as  to  General  Superin- 
tendents :  Few  persons  who  know  anything  about 
it,  will  deny  the  statement  that  there  are  General 
Superintendents  that  are  not  the  fittest  and  best 
that  could  and  should  have  been  selected.  That 
by  no  distinguished  services  they  have  rendered 
the  Church ;  nor  any  marked  ability  they  possess, 
to  preach  or  administer  the  affairs  of  the  Church, 
or  to  organize  and  lead  its  forces  to  great  achieve- 
ments, have  they  attained  to  the  position  and  hon- 
ors they  enjoy;  and  that  there  are  many  in  the 
ministry  of  the  Church,  more  deserving  of  these 
honors  and  better  qualified  to  administer  the  du- 
ties of  the  office,  who  will  never  be  advanced  be- 
yond the  position  in  which  they  now  serve.  And 
why?  Because  favoritism,  official  influence  and 
church  politics  outweigh  real  ability,  merit  and 
faithful,  distinguished  services.  It  is  sad  that  this 
is  so ;  but  it  is  none  the  less  so.  General  Superin- 
tendents sometimes  have  their  favorites  and  use 
their  immense  influence  to  advance  them  to  the 
highest  office  in  the  Church,  from  motives  that 
are  often  personal  and  selfish. 
Second — An  ecclesiastical  political  machine  ex- 


THE  EPISCOPACY  145 

ists  in  Methodism  that  has  far  more  to  do  with 
electing  General  Conference  officials  than  any  one, 
if  not  all  other  agencies  and  influences  combined ; 
and  this  Machine  sometimes  uses  the  methods  of 
secular  politics  to  the  scandal  and  disgrace  of  the 
Church. 

Third — Some  General  Superintendents,  without 
doubt,  are  not  infrequently  influenced  by  personal 
considerations  in  appointing  District  Superinten- 
dents. They  want  men  who  will  be  subservient  to 
their  wishes.  The  General  Superintendents  nat- 
urally desire  to  be  continued  in  effective  relations 
as  long  as  possible.  District  Superintendents,  by 
virtue  of  the  influence  their  office  gives  them,  stand 
a  far  better  chance  than  they  otherwise  would  of 
being  elected  delegates  to  the  General  Conference, 
and  of  being  members  of  the  Committee  on  Epis- 
copacy; which  Committee  has  much  to  do  with 
continuing  or  retiring  the  General  Superinten- 
dents. Of  course  the  District  Superintendents  on 
that  Committee  who  owe  their  positions  to  a  Gen- 
eral Superintendent  whose  standing  and  efficiency 
are  under  consideration,  will  more  than  likely  vote 
to  continue  the  same  in  effective  relations. 

Fourth — The  influence  and  power  of  wealth. 
The  Methodists  have  grown  wealthy.  "The  pow- 
ers that  be"  toady  to  the  rich.  Wealth  is  far 
more  influential  than  spirituality.  The  rich  lay- 
men are  conspicuous  in  the  General  Conference, 
and  on  the  Church  Boards.  They  have  much  to  do 
in  electing  General  Superintendents,  and  more  to 
do  with  making  pastoral  appointments.    Of  course 


146      BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

some  of  them  are  spiritually  minded;  but  this  is 
far  from  being  the  rule.  They  can  get  the  ear  of 
some  General  Superintendents,  when  better  men 
cannot;  and  wield  an  influence  with  "the  powers 
that  be"  far  greater  than  any  other  men. 

Fifth — Large  and  wealthy  Churches  which  are 
not  infrequently  worldly  and  formal,  must  have 
the  preacher  upon  which  they  have  set  their  hearts, 
or  there  will  be  trouble.  The  smaller  churches 
think  they  are  equally  entitled  to  have  their  way 
in  such  matters,  and  failing,  they  also  make 
trouble.  And  troubles  multiply,  and  will  continue 
to  do  so  as  long  as  the  present  system  is  con- 
tinued. 

Because  of  these  things  the  General  Superin- 
tendents are  having  more  and  more  trouble  in 
making  appointments,  and  there  is  seen,  widely 
throughout  the  connection,  increasing  dissatisfac- 
tion and  strife.  The  question — what  can  be  done 
to  lessen  or  do  away  with  these  difficulties  alto- 
gether? is  one  of  pressing  and  far-reaching  im- 
portance. Some  are  advocating  a  Diocesan  Epis- 
copacy, and  it  looks  as  though  there  was  a  con- 
certed if  not  an  organized  movement  in  this  direc- 
tion.   Let  us  look  into  the  matter  a  little. 

First — The  General  Superintendents  never 
should  have  been  called  Bishops;  nor  should  the 
Church  talk  of  "The  Episcopate"  in  connection 
with  them.  This  engenders  and  gives  character 
to  ecclesiastical  notions  that  do  not  belong  to  our 
economy  and  never  should  have  place  in  Metho- 
dism. 


THE  EPISCOPACY  147 

Second — Constituting  the  General  Superinten- 
dency  a  life  office,  tends  to  increase  the  idea  of 
a  third  order  of  the  ministry,  against  which,  as  a 
Church,  we  are  unequivocally  and  definitely  com- 
mitted. 

Third — The  so-called  "Consecration  of  Bish- 
ops" further  promotes  this  un-Methodistic  notion. 
This  service  differs  but  little  from  the  ordination 
of  Elders,  and  is  as  truly  an  ordination  service. 
Why  not  also  consecrate,  in  like  manner,  the  Dis- 
trict Superintendents?  The  reasons  for  doing  so 
are  quite  as  Scriptural  and  good. 

Fourth — The  locating  of  General  Superinten- 
dents at  certain  strategetical  points  and  requiring 
them  to  preside  over  Conferences  contiguous  to 
these  points  preferably.  The  chief  arguments  ad- 
vanced in  support  of  such  actions  are  (a)  they  will 
have  less  traveling  to  do  and  the  expenses  will  be 
correspondingly  less;  and  (b)  they  can  better 
study  their  fields  and  know  the  pastors  and  their 
worth  and  needs.  While  these  arguments  are  per- 
tinent and  forceful,  they  equally  apply  to  Diocesan 
Episcopacy. 

But  it  is  argued,  it  is  either  this  or  do  away  with 
the  itinerancy.  This  does  not  necessarily  follow. 
And  it  is  certain  that  if  we  adopt  Diocesan  Episco- 
pacy it  will  not  relieve  us  of  our  troubles ;  and  we 
would  thereby  cease  to  be  Methodists, — in  which 
event,  to  be  consistent,  we  would  have  to  go  back 
to  the  Mother  Church. 

Our  present  order  once  worked  all  right.  The 
question    now   is — Can    it   be    adjusted   to    the 


148      BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 


changed  conditions  and  made  effective  1  Most  cer- 
tainly not  by  having  an  Episcopacy  without  an 
Episcopate,  as  would  be  the  case  if  we  adopted 
Diocesan  Episcopacy.  There  is  no  place  in  Meth- 
odism for  a  third  order  of  the  ministry. 


CHAPTER  X 
ECCLESIASTICAL  POLITICS 

"Love  seeketh  not  its  own."     1  Cor.  xiii:  5. 

"In  honor  preferring  one  another."     Rom.  xii:  10. 

HP  HE  machinery  of  the  Church,  with  its  numer- 
*  ous  well-paid  and  highly  honored  officials, 
and  its  rapidly  multiplying  societies  and  boards, 
is  a  source  of  constant  temptation  to  the  ambi- 
tiously disposed  to  enter  into  unholy  schemes,  and 
resort  to  the  methods  of  secular  politics  in  order 
to  promote  their  selfish  ends. 

The  following  is  from  the  Methodist  Times, 
September  5,  1913:  "The  curse  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  is  her  politics.  Our  form  of 
government  lends  itself  to  political  manipulation. 
We  have  many  honorable  and  remunerative  offices 
to  fill.  The  opportunity  of  the  ecclesiastical  poli- 
tician is  great.  Ambitious  men  in  sister  denomi- 
nations are  offered  no  such  temptations.  Certain 
things  which  occurred  in  connection  with  the  elec- 
tions at  the  last  General  Conference  will  have  a 
tendency  to  promote  this  political  trend.  This  is 
to  be  deplored." 

The  natural  man — hasar-sarx. — is  ever  in  con- 
flict with  the  spiritual.  They  "are  contrary  the 
one  to  the  other."  We  want  to  rule  and  have  our 
own  way,  unless  "The  law  of  the  spirit  of  life  in 
Christ  Jesus  hath  made  me  (us)  free  from  the 

149 


150      BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

law  of  sin  and  death."  Most  of  churches  have  a 
coterie  in  its  membership  that  want  to  be  con- 
spicuous and  rule.  The  same  is  true  in  most  if 
not  all  Preachers'  Meetings.  It  is  the  flesh,  and 
needs  to  be  put  to  death. 

In  every  Annual  Conference  is  a  man  who  per- 
suades himself  that  he  alone  is  responsible  for  the 
dignity,  honor  and  welfare  of  the  body ;  and  there- 
fore entitled  to  the  honors  and  emoluments  the 
Conference  has  the  right  and  power  to  bestow, — 
or,  to  decide  who  shall  have  them.  He  will  soon 
have  a  following;  and  then  "Pipe-laying"  and 
"Wire-pulling"  proceed  apace,  and  erelong  pro- 
ject themselves  into  the  wider  sphere  of  the 
Church,  as  represented  by  the  General  Confer- 
ence ;  where  alliances  and  combinations  are  formed 
that  have  for  their  object  the  capturing  of  the  big 
prizes  for  self  or  friends.  Sometimes,  thank  God ! 
they  fail;  but,  sad  to  relate,  they  pften  succeed. 
This  political  gang  is  composed  of  numerous  Gen- 
eral Conference  officials,  including  some  Bishops — 
many  of  whom  got  their  offices  in  this  way;  offi- 
cials in  our  educational  institutions,  and  the  great 
army  who  want  a  job  for  themselves  and  their 
friends.  The  headquarters  for  this  business  is 
150  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York, — with  sub-stations 
at  220  Fourth  Avenue,  West,  Cincinnati,  and  101 8 
Wabash  Avenue,  Chicago, — and  a  few  outlying 
agencies,  such  as  Boston,  Philadelphia,  Kansas 
City,  Detroit,  Baltimore,  San  Francisco,  Denver 
and  Pittsburgh. 

I  was  coming  down  Fifth  Avenue,  in  New  York, 


ECCLESIASTICAL  POLITICS         151 

one  Monday  morning;  when  near  Fourteenth 
Street  I  met  the  late  Bishop  Mallalieu.  He  asked 
me — "Where  have  you  been?"  I  replied — Up  at 
the  Methodist  Book  Concern.  He  said — "Keep 
away  from  there."  I  asked  Why?  He  answered 
— "That  is  the  easiest  spot  on  this  round  earth 
for  a  good  Methodist  to  backslide."  I  said,  while 
in  the  Book  Room  I  noticed  a  number  of  brethren 
off  in  corners  and  behind  book  counters  with  their 
mouths  near  the  ears  of  other  brethren,  and  look- 
ing very  serious.  What  were  they  doing?  The 
Bishop  asked  me  what  I  thought  about  it?  I  said 
— I  thought  they  were  making  up  a  list  of  dele- 
gates for  the  next  General  Conference.  The 
Bishop  said — "You  are  way  late;  that  was  all 
agreed  upon  before  the  last  General  Conference; 
those  fellows  have  things  fixed  up  at  least  six  years 
ahead." 

The  gang  decides  how  many  Bishops  shall  be 
elected,  and  who  they  shall  be.  Also  who  shall  be 
retired  in  order  to  make  room  for  their  candidates. 
These  candidates  are  put  forward,  whenever  pos- 
sible, by  the  Bishops  that  are  in  sympathy  with 
what  is  being  done,  and  there  are  such ;  as  do  also 
the  editors  who  are  parties  to  this  business;  and 
the  whole  gang  pushes  with  all  its  might  and  all 
the  time,  for  their  men.  If  these  candidates  are 
General  Conference  officials,  they  have  excellent 
opportunities  to  push  their  candidacy,  as  they 
travel  around  among  the  Annual  Conferences  and 
Churches ;  and  they  usually  work  their  claims  for 
far  more  than  they  are  worth.     Sometimes  they 


152      BREAKEES!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

are  worked  into  a  minor  official  position,  as  a  step- 
ping-stone to  the  higher  office.  Or,  it  may  be  one 
of  their  candidates  is  a  member  of  an  Annual 
Conference  where  he  cannot  be  elected  a  delegate 
to  the  General  Conference,  or  from  which  he  could 
not  be  elected  a  Bishop,  because  of  geographical 
difficulties;  or,  there  is  another  candidate  for  the 
honors  from  the  same  Conference ;  so  he  is  trans- 
ferred by  a  Bishop,  who  is  on  the  job,  to  an  in- 
fluential church  in  the  Middle  West ;  or  is  worked 
into  the  Presidency  of  some  educational  institu- 
tion, and  made  a  delegate  to  the  General  Confer- 
ence; and  then  is  where  the  gang  can  consum- 
mate their  plans.  Of  course  it  takes  time  to  do 
this  kind  of  work;  and  they  take  it,  as  Bishop  Mal- 
lalieu  said.  Is  it  a  mere  accident,  or,  of  the  Lord, 
that  Boston  University  School  of  Theology  and 
Ohio  Wesleyan  University  are  so  largely  repre- 
sented in  the  last  twenty- three  Bishops  elected? 
Some  may  think  so,  but  I  think  them  ignorant  of 
what  is  going  on.  This  gang  has  favors  for  all 
who  help  in  furthering  these  schemes;  and  a 
"Cold  hand"  for  those  who  will  not  help  them, 
and  a  " Black  hand"  for  those  who  dare  oppose 
them. 

At  the  General  Conferences  the  gang  works, 
as  a  perfectly  adjusted  and  well  lubricated  ma- 
chine, and  is  called  the  "Third  House."  Let  me 
give  a  few  instances. 

At  the  Conference  in  Los  Angeles,  California, 
in  1904,  Chancellor  James  R.  Day,  of  Syracuse 
University,  was  a  candidate  for  the  Bishopric. 


ECCLESIASTICAL  POLITICS         153 

His  candidacy  had  been  pushed  for  a  long  time. 
He  received  quite  a  respectable  vote  on  the  first 
ballot,  but  his  support  fell  away  afterward  until 
the  third  vote,  when  he  withdrew  from  the  race. 
Later  on,  when  six  bishops  had  been  elected  and 
first-class  candidates  were  scarce,  the  friends  of 
Dr.  Day  put  him  in  the  running  again ;  but  it  was 
conspicuously  apparent  that  in  the  honest,  sober 
judgment  of  the  Conference,  he  was  an  unfit  man 
for  the  office.  But  at  this  point  this  thing  hap- 
pened: the  Daily  Examiner,  one  of  Mr.  Hearst's 
yellow  journals,  published  a  wild-cat  story  to  the 
effect  that  the  day  before,  Dr.  Day  had  an  alterca- 
tion with  one  Professor  Hardie  on  the  street  and 
had  knocked  him  down.  When  the  Conference 
was  ready  for  business,  the  morning  this  article 
appeared,  Dr.  Day  got  the  floor  on  a  question  of 
privilege  and  denied  the  story  in  toto.  After  ex- 
hausting his  question  of  privilege,  Bishop  "War- 
ren, the  chairman,  allowed  him  to  go  ahead  and 
deny  all  that  had  ever  been  said  by  any  one  about 
his  being  in  any  sense  in  sympathy  with  higher 
criticism,  and,  under  the  plea  of  persecution,  make 
an  argument  for  his  own  election.  At  this  point, 
Dr.  Buckley,  who  has  the  reputation  of  being  in- 
strumental in  making  and  retiring  more  Bishops 
than  any  ten  men,  offered  a  resolution  excluding 
the  Examiner's  reporters  from  the  Conference 
Hall,  which  carried  by  a  unanimous  vote.  The 
machine,  taking  advantage  of  the  situation,  by 
applause  and  cheers,  after  the  manner  of  a  po- 
litical convention,  carried  a  large  number  of  dele- 


154      BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

gates  from  antagonism  to  support,  as  was  shown 
by  the  two  votes  that  followed,  but  which  did  not 
elect.  A  third  vote  had  to  be  taken  before  Dr. 
Day 's  election  was  secured,  and  then  not  until  the 
next  leading  candidate  withdrew  and  the  opposi- 
tion vote  was  scattered.  Even  then  he  got  only  10 
votes  more  than  was  necessary  to  elect. 

The  next  morning  Dr.  Day  did  just  what  was  to 
be  expected,  under  the  circumstances,  viz. :  thanked 
those  who  voted  for  him  for  their  support,  and 
declined  to  be  consecrated  a  bishop.  He  left  at 
once  for  the  East.  "We  say  this  for  two  reasons, 
viz.:  First,  the  methods  by  which  he  secured  his 
vote  were,  to  say  the  least,  questionable.  A  promi- 
nent politician,  a  delegate  to  the  Conference,  said 
to  me :  "If  this  was  a  political  convention  I  would 
say  this  is  a  set  up  job,"  and  there  were  scores 
who  thought  as  he  did.  Second,  it  is  absolutely 
certain  that  the  Examiner's  story  was  the  cause  of 
his  election.  Had  he  been  consecrated,  he  would 
ever  afterward  have  been  known  as  Billie  Hearst 's 
bishop. 

Now,  then,  a  word  as  to  the  Examiner's  story. 
One  afternoon,  in  the  Committee  of  Education,  of 
which  I  was  a  member,  President  Little  and  Pro- 
fessor Terry  made  a  violent  personal  attack  upon 
me.  I  raised  a  point  of  order,  protesting  against 
the  attack,  but  the  chairman,  President  Bridge- 
man,  decided  that  the  speakers  were  in  order.  After 
they  were  through  I  got  the  floor  to  reply,  when 
the  chairman  ruled  me  out  of  order.  Professor 
Hardie,  at  one  time  a  member  of  the  Faculty  of 


ECCLESIASTICAL  POLITICS         155 

the  University  of  Southern  California,  a  cultured 
Christian  gentleman,  was  a  spectator  in  the  gal- 
lery. Afterward,  in  the  vestibule  of  the  church 
where  the  committee  held  its  sessions,  he  was  talk- 
ing with  a  friend  about  the  manner  in  which  I 
had  been  treated  in  the  committee.  He  said:  "It 
was  unchristian,  unbrotherly,  unfair  and  shame- 
ful." Just  then  Dr.  Day,  whom  Professor  Hardie 
did  not  know,  was  passing,  and,  hearing  what  Pro- 
fessor said,  stopped  and  said:  ''It  is  not  so.  What 
you  say  is  slanderous.  Munhall  was  treated  as 
he  deserved  to  be."  Professor  Hardie,  still  not 
knowing  it  was  Dr.  Day,  said:  "I  was  not  speak- 
ing to  you,  sir,"  and  turning,  walked  away  some 
distance  and  entered  into  conversation  with  an- 
other man.  Dr.  Day  followed,  and  addressing 
Professor  Hardie,  said:  "What  you  have  said  is 
slanderous!"  Professor  Hardie  replied:  "I  do 
not  want  you  to  use  such  language  to  me."  Dr. 
Day,  with  his  open  hand,  pushed  the  ends  of  his 
fingers  against  Professor  Hardie's  breast  and 
said :  "I  say  it  is  slanderous !"  Professor  Hardie 
threw  Dr.  Day's  hands  aside,  and  said:  "Keep 
your  hands  off  of  me ;  I  want  nothing  to  do  with 
you,  sir,"  and  turning,  left  the  church.  This  is 
Professor  Hardie's  version  of  the  affair,  and  the 
basis  for  the  Examiner's  story. 

The  Southern  California,  Michigan,  New  Jer- 
sey and  Wilmington  Annual  and  Pittsburgh  Lay 
Electoral  Conferences  memorialized  the  General 
Conference  of  1912  on  the  subject  of  our  Sunday- 
school  literature,  condemning  the  same  as  unbibli- 


156      BKEAKERS !  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

cal  and  un-Methodistic,  and  asking  for  a  change. 
These  memorials  reached  the  General  Confer- 
ence at  Minneapolis,  and  were  properly  referred 
to  the  Sunday-school  Committee.  A  sub-commit- 
tee, under  the  rule,  was  appointed,  and  the  me- 
morials were  delivered  to  them  for  consideration 
and  to  formulate  action.  This  committee  met,  and 
after  some  discussion  it  was  apparent  that  a  ma- 
jority favored  the  memorials  and  that  something 
would  be  done ;  but,  as  more  time  was  needed,  ad- 
journment was  taken  without  action.  That  night 
the  Chairman  of  this  sub-committee  was  invited  to 
meet  the  "Third  House,"  at  its  headquarters,  in 
the  Hotel  Radison.  This  so-called  ' '  Third  House  • ' 
was  composed  of  certain  members  of  the  Book 
Committee,  several  Bishops  known  to  be  in  sym- 
pathy with  Dr.  McFarland's  teaching,  a  number 
of  secretaries  and  agents,  several  educators  and 
such  other  brethren  as  were  needed  and  could  be 
counted  upon  to  bring  such  things  to  pass  as  they 
might  desire.  He  was  directed  to  return  the 
memorials  to  the  Secretary  of  the  General  Con- 
ference, with  the  request  that  they  be  sent  to  the 
Committee  on  the  State  of  the  Church,  the  Chair- 
man of  which  was  a  member  of  the  "Third 
House."  This  he  had  no  right  to  do,  as  the  Sun- 
day-school Committee  alone  had  the  authority  to 
do  this,  and  it  was  not  even  consulted.  The  Secre- 
tary of  the  General  Conference  received  these 
memorials,  supposing,  of  course,  that  they  had 
been  returned  in  proper  form ;  and,  as  soon  as  the 
journal  was  read,  with  only  about  half  of  the  dele- 


ECCLESIASTICAL  POLITICS         157 

gates  in  their  seats,  and  half  of  them  looking  over 
their  mail  and  the  morning  papers,  with  no  one 
really  knowing  what  it  meant  save  the  members 
of  the  " Third  House"  and  a  few  of  the  knowing 
ones,  the  Bishop  put  the  question,  and  the  dis- 
graceful thing  was  done.  When  those  of  the  sub- 
committee who  sympathized  with  the  memorials 
learned  what  had  been  done,  they  were  surprised 
and  indignant. 

The  memorials  were  now  in  possession  of  the 
Committee  on  the  State  of  the  Church,  the  Chair- 
man of  which,  as  I  have  stated,  was  a  member  of 
the  "Third  House."  He  proceeded  to  manipulate 
matters  so  as  to  get  a  sub-committee  to  his  liking. 
I  was  named  by  the  delegates  from  the  Fourth 
General  Conference  District  to  represent  that  dis- 
trict on  the  committee;  but  the  "Third  House" 
ordered  otherwise,  and  when  a  day  later  the  com- 
mittee was  published,  another  man,  known  to  be 
enthusiastically  in  sympathy  with  Dr.  McFar- 
land's  work,  was  brazenly  announced,  wholly  with- 
out authority,  and  in  violation  of  the  rule  that 
allows  each  General  Conference  Delegation  to  se- 
lect its  representatives  on  the  sub-committees,  and 
he  was  made  chairman  of  the  committee.  He 
framed  the  report  of  the  committee  by  the  assis- 
tance of  the  "Third  House,"  and  to  their  liking. 
This  report  passed  the  Committee  on  the  State  of 
the  Church  because  of  the  engineering  of  the  chair- 
man, and  the  fact  that  no  one  on  the  Committee 
of  the  State  of  the  Church  had  been  authorized 
by  his  Conference  to  represent  them ;  their  repre- 


158      BREAKEES!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

sentatives  were  all  on  the  Sunday-school  Commit- 
tee, where  they  knew  the  memorials  would  go — 
and  belonged ;  and  it  was  thought  better,  under  all 
the  circumstances,  to  let  the  whole  matter  go  be- 
fore the  General  Conference,  where  these  repre- 
sentatives would  have  a  chance  to  represent  their 
Conferences,  or,  it  was,  of  course,  thought  they 
would. 

Before  proceeding  further  with  my  story,  in 
order  that  some  of  my  readers,  who  are  doubtless 
unacquainted  with  certain  things  connected  with 
General  Conferences,  may  clearly  understand 
what  took  place,  I  wish  to  remind  them:  First. 
That  about  80  per  cent,  of  the  delegates  of  any 
General  Conference  are  there  for  the  first  time, 
unfamiliar  with  the  complicated  rules  by  which 
the  body  is  governed,  and  most  of  them  with  lit- 
tle knowledge  of  Parliamentary  law,  and  unac- 
customed to  public  debate.  Second.  The  General 
Conference  is  in  no  real  sense  a  deliberative  body, 
for  the  sufficient  reason  that  when  the  real  busi- 
ness of  the  Conference  begins,  no  one  is  allowed 
more  than  five  minutes,  and  not  one  in  a  dozen 
who  wants  the  floor  when  any  real  live,  important 
question  is  up,  can  get  it  even  then,  unless  he 
knows  the  ropes  and  has  inside  information. 

By  an  unwritten  law  that  never  should  be  ob- 
served, almost  all  General  Conference  officials, 
editors,  secretaries  and  agents,  are  elected  by  their 
Annual  Conferences  delegates  to  the  General  Con- 
ference. Most  of  them  have  been  there  before, 
some  of  them  many  times,  and  are,  therefore,  fa- 


ECCLESIASTICAL  POLITICS         159 

miliar  with  the  rules,  and  can  often  bring  things 
to  pass  that  five  times  as  many  other  delegates 
could  not.  Besides,  these  officials  all  want  to  keep 
their  jobs,  or  get  better  ones,  and  their  friends 
stand  in  with  them,  including  most  of  the  educa- 
tors, and  all  brethren  who  have  "bees"  in  their 
bonnets  (and  there  are  not  a  few  such).  Now, 
when  these  brethren  all  get  together  with  their 
knowledge  of  how  to  do  it,  they  can  sweep  any 
General  Conference  off  its  feet,  and  they  did  it  in 
this  case. 

The  whole  proceeding  was  dishonorable  and  the 
basest  kind  of  politics.  I  have  never  seen  any- 
thing worse  in  a  political  convention  and  nothing 
in  any  General  Conference  approaching  it,  save 
the  methods  employed  at  Los  Angeles  to  secure 
the  election  of  Dr.  James  E.  Day  to  the  General 
Superintendency.  It  was  a  disgrace  to  Method- 
ism and  an  insult  to  the  Annual  and  Lay  Electoral 
Conferences  sending  up  the  memorials. 

The  matter  was,  by  far,  the  most  important 
that  came  before  the  General  Conference,  affect- 
ing the  very  life  of  the  Church.  It  should  have 
been  considered  prayerfully,  carefully,  dispas- 
sionately, and  with  honesty,  impartiality  and  en- 
tire frankness,  inviting  the  fullest  and  freest  dis- 
cussion. 

With  the  Natural  Man  in  control,  dominated  by 
selfishness,  and  employing  the  unchristian  meth- 
ods of  the  politician,  need  any  one  be  surprised  at 
what  occurred  during  the  last  night  session  of  the 


160      BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

Conference?  The  following  is  from  the  Morning 
Tribune,  May  29,  1912: 

"Scenes  of  wild  disorder  characterized  last 
night's  session  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Gen- 
eral Conference. 

1 '  The  storm  broke  as  from  a  clear  sky  while  Dr. 
Richardson  was  presenting  the  report  of  the  com- 
mittee on  revision,  which  dealt  with  changes  in 
the  Church  ritual  governing  the  sacrament  of  bap- 
tism, reception  of  members,  administration  of  the 
Lord's  supper,  solemnization  of  matrimony  and 
the  burial  of  the  dead. 

"As  the  changes  recommended  by  the  report 
were  reached  the  speaker  made  several  witty  sal- 
lies at  old  forms  which  he  said  were  not  applicable 
to  modern  times.  Referring  to  the  ceremony  of 
matrimony,  it  was  recommended  to  leave  out  the 
reference  to  Isaac  and  Rebecca  and  also  the  words 
'and  with  my  worldly  goods  I  thee  endow.' 

WORDS  CALLED  MISNOMER 

' '  '  The  committee  thought  it  just  as  well  to  leave 
out  Isaac  and  Rebecca,'  said  the  speaker.  'They 
may  have  been  good  people  but  we  did  not  think 
it  necessary  that  we  should  commend  them  in 
every  marriage  service.  We  also  recommend  leav- 
ing out  the  words  'and  with  my  worldly  goods  I 
thee  endow.'  It  is  a  misnomer  for  a  man  to  say 
that,  for  often  his  last  dollar  has  gone  to  pay  the 
license  fee.' 

"The  speaker's  remarks  were  greeted  with 
laughter  and  applause  and  the  sections  of  the  re 


ECCLESIASTICAL  POLITICS         161 

port  were  rapidly  adopted  as  read.  He  continued 
down  the  ritualistic  service  until  it  was  recom- 
mended that  the  words  'man  that  is  born  of  woman 
hath  but  a  short  time  to  live  and  is  full  of  misery' 
and  the  clause  reading  'dust  to  dust,'  be  stricken 
from  the  burial  service. 

LAUGHTER  PROTESTED 

"Here  a  delegate  arose  and  protested  against 
laughter  and  levity  'while  action  was  being  taken 
upon  sacred  matters. '  Another  jumped  to  his  feet 
and  shouted  that  he  had  a  minority  report  protest- 
ing against  the  whole  tone  of  the  majority  report 
and  demanding  permission  to  present  it.  He  de- 
nounced the  majority  report  as  a  radical,  drastic 
change  in  the  ritual,  and  protested  against  the 
Conference  voting  to  adopt  it  section  by  section  in 
a  flippant  manner  without  giving  the  minority  a 
chance  to  be  heard. 

"Dr.  Hanley  said  that  nothing  had  ever  shocked 
him  more  than  the  flippant  manner  in  which  the 
ritual  was  being  discussed  and  then  pandemonium 
broke  loose.  A  motion  to  lay  the  whole  matter  on 
the  table  was  made  and  carried.  'We  had  no 
chance  to  vote  on  the  negative  side,'  shouted  a 
delegate.  'I  desire  to  utter  a  calm  protest,'  said 
another.  '  I  will  not  sit  down, '  cried  the  delegate 
with  the  minority  report. 

DELEGATES  JUMP  TO  FEET 

"When  Bishop  Mclntyre  ruled  that  the  whole 
matter  was  laid  on  the  table  an  appeal  from  his 


162      BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

decision  was  taken  to  the  house  and  he  was  sus- 
tained. His  ruling  was  questioned  and  a  count 
demanded,  and  he  was  sustained  by  a  vote  of  283 
votes  as  against  238. 

' '  Scores  of  delegates  jumped  to  their  feet  shak- 
ing angry  fists  while  the  bishop  pounded  in  vain 
for  order.  Some  one  started  to  sing  'Come  Thou 
Fount  of  Every  Blessing,'  in  which  many  of  the 
delegates  joined,  while  others  debated  unheard 
and  still  others  yelled  'a  question  of  privilege,' 
and  'Mr.  Chairman.'  In  the  confusion  a  delegate 
shouted  'This  is  a  scene  at  which  men  and  angels 
should  weep.' 

MAJORITY  REPORT  DENOUNCED 

"Finally  Dr.  Buckley  secured  the  floor  and  de- 
nounced the  majority  report  and  administered  a 
scathing  rebuke  to  Dr.  Richardson. 

"A  motion  to  adjourn  started  confusion  anew 
and  elicited  cries  of  'no,  no.'  Dr.  Richardson  se- 
cured recognition  and  said  that  he  had  been  called 
a  semi-blasphemer  by  Dr.  Buckley.  'I  have  been 
greatly  misrepresented  by  Dr.  Buckley,'  he  said. 
'He  has  accused  me  of  being  a  semi-blasphemer. 
I  remember  when  there  was  no  other  charge  they 

brought  that  against  the  Redeemer '    Here  he 

was  interrupted  with  cheers,  hisses  and  yells. 

"Finally  permission  was  asked  to  withdraw  the 
report  until  to-day,  which  was  granted  and  other 
routine  work  was  taken  up. 

"After  adjournment  several  venerable  minis- 
ters wept  over  the  occurrence  and  said  that  never 


ECCLESIASTICAL  POLITICS         163 

before  had  such  a  disgraceful  scene  characterized 
a  conference  of  the  Methodist  Church.  Deep  re- 
gret was  expressed  that  it  should  have  happened 
on  the  very  last  night  session  of  the  Conference" 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Methodist  Preachers  Asso- 
ciation in  Wesley  Hall,  1018  Arch  Street,  Phila- 
delphia, June  3,  1912,  reports  mere  made  by  a 
number  of  delegates  to  Minneapolis. 

The  following  is  from  the  report  of  the  meeting, 
in  the  Daily  Evening  Bulletin  of  that  date : 

"Thoroughly  disgusted  according  to  his  own 
statement,  by  the  spectacle  of  political  domina- 
tion afforded  at  the  quadrennial  General  Confer- 
ence of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  Minne- 
apolis, Thomas  B.  Fort,  a  lay  delegate,  stirred  the 
Methodist  ministers  at  their  weekly  meeting  in 
Wesley  Hall,  1018  Arch  Street,  to-day,  when  he 
presented  a  verbal  report  on  the  conference. 

u  'I  am  sick  at  heart  and  disgusted  with  the 
whole  affair, *  said  Mr.  Port.  'Practical  politics 
dominated  the  conference  instead  of  Jesus  Christ. 
It  was  not  a  pretty  spectacle  to  see  the  governing 
body  of  a  great  church  thus  handled  and  I  don't 
care  about  ever  again  attending  a  General  Con- 
ference so  long  as  the  same  influences  prevail  in 
the  same  way.* 

"During  his  address,  the  clergymen  manifested 
deep  interest,  verging  at  one  time  on  excitement, 
and  frequently  interrupted  with  cries  of  'Hear! 
Hear!' 

"  'I  fought  the  political  movement  with  all  my 
heart  and  soul,  night  and  day,'  said  Mr.  Fort. 


164      BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

'As  a  member  of  the  Committee  on  Bishops  I  was 
at  work  from  8  o  'clock  in  the  morning  to  2  o  'clock 
the  next  morning,  but  it  was  all  to  no  purpose. 
It's  all  well  enough  to  talk  about  real  democracy 
in  this  country.  We  ought  to  have  a  little  real 
democracy  in  the  Methodist  Church  and  I'm  sorry 
to  say  we  have  none. 

1 '  '  I  never  fought  so  hard  in  my  life  as  I  did  to 
save  Bishop  Neely  from  enforced  retirement. 
Twice  we  succeeded  in  saving  him,  but  each  time 
political  deals  were  put  through  that  entailed  his 
retirement,  and  finally  he  had  to  go,  together  with 
Bishops  Warren  and  Moore.  I  will  never  forget 
the  scene  when  the  final  decision  was  announced ; 
it  was  heartrending. 

1 '  ■  Three  men  were  selected  to  take  the  places  of 
the  Bishops  forced  out  and  five  new  ones  were 
elected.  Yet  it  will  take  these  new  men  at  least 
eight  years  to  become  as  useful  and  effective  as 
were  the  three  who  were  put  on  the  superannuated 
list.  If  the  General  Conference  was  properly  con- 
ducted, it  would  not  be  necessary  to  have  one  of- 
tener  than  every  ten  years.  The  Conference  of 
1912  was  not  an  uplift  to  the  Church.  I  believe 
in  using  the  experience  of  the  men  with  gray  hair 
rather  than  in  the  rapid  elevation  of  the  young 
men.' 

"(Mr.  Fort  is  a  prominent  business  man  in 
Philadelphia,  and  was  formerly  a  Select  Council- 
man from  the  Twenty-fifth  Ward;  and  therefore 
somewhat  an  authority  on  politics.) 

"John   Walton,    superintendent    of    Rehoboth 


ECCLESIASTICAL  POLITICS         165 

Sunday-school,  also  a  lay  delegate,  supported  Mr. 
Fort,  saying  that  politics  had  guided  the  confer- 
ence throughout;  that  a  fair  Christian  spirit  had 
not  been  displayed. 

"J.  Lincoln  Hall,  another  lay  delegate,  in  a 
milder  way  corroborated  the  statements  of  Mr. 
Fort  to  the  election  and  retirement  of  the  Bishops. 
He,  like  the  other  delegates  of  Philadelphia,  voted 
for  the  retention  of  Bishop  Neely.  'It  was  fixed 
that  Bishop  Neely  was  to  go  and  he  was  pushed 
out  with  a  rush,'  said  Mr.  Hall.  'Bishop  Neely 
is  better  adapted  for  the  office  to-day  than  he  was 
when  elected,  eight  years  ago.'  " 

Where  lies  the  responsibility  for  this  disgrace- 
ful and  shameful  condition  of  affairs?  It  is — 
First,  with  the  Gang — the  Third  House.  Second 
— With  those  who  are  aspirants  for  official  honors 
and  place  and  seek  the  praises  of  men.  And  Third 
— with  those  Methodists  who  have  not  backbone 
enough  to  come  into  the  open  and  fight  this  iniqui- 
tous thing  to  the  death.  I  have  had  lots  of  promi- 
nent and  influential  Methodists  say  to  me — "God 
surely  has  raised  you  up  for  a  time  like  this :  you 
are  doing  a  noble  work ;  God  bless  you, — but,  don't 
quote  me."    God  help  us! 


CHAPTER  XI 

AMUSEMENTS 

HOLINESS  unto  the  Lord,  and  separation 
from  the  fashions,  fads  and  frivolities  of  the 
world  were,  in  the  minds  and  consciences  of  the 
earlier  Methodists,  inseparable.  Mr.  Wesley's 
Kule,  which  forbade  ''Taking  such  diversions  as 
cannot  be  used  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus," 
and  which  became  a  disciplinary  rule,  was,  by  all 
good  Methodists,  believed  to  forbid  dancing,  card- 
playing  and  theatre-going.  But  as  the  Methodists 
increased  in  numbers  and  wealth  they  became  lax 
in  observing  and  enforcing  the  rule.  Some  of  the 
transgressors  insisted  that  occasional  and  dis- 
criminating indulgence  in  these  pastimes  was  not 
prohibited  by  the  rule.  In  order  that  there  might 
be  no  misunderstanding  about  the  matter  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  in  1872  enacted  a  rule  that  spe- 
cifically forbade  these  things ;  known  as  paragraph 
248;  now,  somewhat  modified,  as  paragraph  190. 
This  rule  was  never  popular  with  our  rich  mem- 
bers, whose  children  wanted  to  move  in  ''Society," 
so  called.  In  1896,  one  of  our  rich  members  tried 
to  get  the  General  Conference  to  rescind  it,  but 
he  failed.  A  short  time  afterward  Professor 
George  E.  Vincent  of  the  University  of  Chicago, 
son  of  Bishop  John  H.  Vincent,  and  now  Presi- 
dent of  the  University  of  Minnesota,  addressed  the 

166 


AMUSEMENTS  167 

members  of  the  Men's  Club  of  the  First  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  of  Evanston  upon  "Orthodoxy 
and  Heresy." 

"I  am  a  conservative,"  he  declared.  "Con- 
nected as  I  am  with  a  capitalistic  institution,  co- 
erced by  it  and  subordinated  to  it,  of  course  I  am 
a  conservative.  If  I  was  not  kept  in  restraint  by 
an  iron  hand  which  stifles  all  spirit  of  indepen- 
dence, I  might  tell  you  how  I  stand  on  some  of 
these  questions." 

Professor  Vincent  was  discussing  the  paragraph 
in  the  Methodist  discipline  which  prohibits  card- 
playing,  theatre-going  and  dancing. 

"Why  should  we  repeal  this  paragraph,"  he 
asked,  "when  we  can  leave  it  there  and  go  on  do- 
ing as  we  please  ?  We  now  are  in  competition  with 
other  churches  for  the  young  people  and  should 
say  as  little  as  possible  about  these  things.  Your 
pastor  deserves  praise  for  his  failure  to  enforce 
this  paragraph." 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Alumni  of  the  different 
Methodist  Colleges  held  in  Chicago  some  months 
before  the  General  Conference  met  in  that  city, 
it  was  plainly  stated  by  several  professors  that 
the  Methodist  Church  was  not  in  harmony  with 
our  educational  institutions,  especially  with  their 
views  in  respect  to  religion  and  amusements.  Two 
of  the  Alumni  thought  that  the  institutions  of 
learning  should  be  brought  into  harmony  with  the 
Church.  Headquarters  were  ultimately  estab- 
lished adjacent  to  the  seat  of  the  Conference  in 
Chicago  for  concerted  effort.    When  they  failed 


168      BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

to  accomplish  their  purpose,  they  were  greatly 
disappointed,  but  exhorted  each  other  to  keep  up 
the  agitation,  expecting  to  win  the  next  time.  And 
they  are  still  at  it. 

These  gentlemen  were  on  hand  at  Los  Angeles, 
in  1904,  and  they  lost  out  by  a  vote  of  441  to  183. 
Of  those  who  voted  to  strike  the  paragraph  out  of 
the  Discipline  were  all  the  editors  of  Church  pe- 
riodicals save  Thompson,  Nast  and  Munz.  All 
paid  Secretaries  save  Leonard,  Mason  and  Ran- 
dell.  All  educators  save  five  or  six.  Every  man  in 
sympathy  with  Higher  Criticism.  All  pastors  of 
wealthy,  aristocratic  city  churches.  This  is  strik- 
ingly significant. 

At  Baltimore,  in  1908,  the  attack  upon  para- 
graph 248  came  from  an  unexpected  quarter.  The 
Bishops  in  their  address  unanimously  recom- 
mended that  the  paragraph  be  stricken  out.*  This 
was  followed  by  a  motion  to  that  effect ;  and  it  was 
referred  to  the  Committee  on  the  State  of  the 
Church.  Under  the  rule,  a  Sub-Committee  of  Fif- 
teen was  appointed  by  the  Chairman  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  the  State  of  the  Church,  to  formulate 
a  report.  The  fine  Italian  hand  of  the  "  Third 
House"  was  at  once  seen  in  the  make-up  of  that 
Committee.     A  majority  of  it  was  composed  of 

*The  Bishops  have  what  they  call  a  "Unit  Rule,"  according  to 
which  when  a  majority  agree  upon  any  matter  of  importance  it  is 
made  unanimous.  I  know  of  four  of  their  number  who  were 
opposed  to  any  change.  The  rule  is  unsensible,  misleading  and 
unjust.  The  Bishops  are  the  servants  of  the  Church,  and  the 
Church  has  a  right  to  know  where  they  stand.  Every  member  of 
the  U.  S.  Supreme  Court  declares  himself,  whenever  the  court 
renders  judgment.  So  should  our  Bishops  when  they  act  upon 
important  matters. 


AMUSEMENTS  169 

some  of  the  most  influential  men  in  the  Church, 
familiar  with  the  rules  of  the  Conference  and  ex- 
perienced legislators,  and  known  to  be  in  fa- 
vor of  striking  out  the  paragraph;  while  three  of 
the  minority  had  never  been  at  a  General  Con- 
ference and  were  wholly  inexperienced  in  legisla- 
tive matters.  The  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on 
State  of  the  Church  tried  to  act  fairly  in  the  mat- 
ter, and  made  me  Chairman  of  the  Sub-Commit- 
tee. The  report  of  this  Sub-Committee,  of  course, 
favored  the  Bishops'  recommendation.  But  there 
was  a  minority  report  in  favor  of  no  change  in 
the  Disciplinary  Eule.  A  lively  discussion  fol- 
lowed the  reading  of  the  report  to  the  Committee 
on  the  State  of  the  Church.  The  " Third  House" 
did  its  utmost  to  carry  the  majority  report;  but 
it  failed.  The  minority  report  prevailed  by  a  vote 
of  103  to  33.  In  the  discussion  a  Presiding  Elder 
of  the  Southwest  Kansas  Conference  said:  "Those 
who  want  paragraph  248  eliminated  from  the  Dis- 
cipline urge  that  the  Bishops  unitedly  desire  to 
have  it  done.  It  may  cost  me  my  job  to  say  so, 
but  my  obligations  to  God  and  the  Church  require 
it  of  me ;  but  in  my  humble  judgment  the  Bishops 
are  mighty  poor  judges  of  the  spiritual  state  and 
needs  of  the  Church.  Their  chief  business  is  ad- 
ministrative, making  appointments,  etc.  They 
ride  around  the  country  in  palace  cars  and  auto- 
mobiles, toadying  to  the  rich  and  are  seldom  in 
touch  with  the  real  spiritual  interests  of  the 
Church."  When  he  said  this,  there  were  several 
who  hissed  and  some  who  hooted.    He  then  said : 


170      BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

"You  may  hiss  and  hoot  as  you  please;  but  you 
all  know  full  well  my  statements  are  true ; ' '  upon 
which  he  was  very  warmly  applauded. 

As  chairman  of  the  sub-committee  I  made  the 
closing  speech.  The  following  is  a  brief  of  what 
I  said — Who  favor  a  change!  A  majority  of  the 
Bishops.  Two  of  the  most  un-Methodistic  Annual 
Conferences  in  the  Connection.  Nearly  all  Gen- 
eral Conference  officials,  and  officials  in  our  edu- 
cational institutions.  For  the  most  part  these  all 
are  not  in  vital  touch  with  the  real  spiritual  work 
of  the  Church. 

Who  Want  no  Change?  A  large  number  of 
Annual  Conferences.  All  our  Scandinavian,  Ger- 
man and  Colored  peoples.  Very  many  of  our 
Young  People's  Societies;  and  not  one  has  asked 
for  a  change.  A  petition  is  now  before  us  from 
the  Epworth  Leagues  of  India,  representing  25,- 
000  members,  praying  that  no  change  be  made. 
Our  workers  on  the  frontier;  and  the  great  ma- 
jority of  members  who  support  the  mid-week 
prayer-meeting  and  are  busy,  heart  and  soul,  for 
the  salvation  of  the  lost. 

The  Bishops  suggest  that  we  use  spiritual 
rather  than  legislative  methods.  I  answer — Has 
the  Church  not  been  using  Spiritual  Methods? 
Does  the  presence  of  paragraph  248  in  the  Disci- 
pline in  any  way  interfere  with  our  using  Spirit- 
ual Methods?  Will  greater  emphasis  be  put  upon 
Spiritual  Methods  and  more  of  them  used  by 
striking  out  the  paragraph  as  proposed?  Will  a 
change  remove  the  cause  of  agitation? 


AMUSEMENTS  171 

It  is  urged  as  a  reason  for  a  change  that  the 
rule  is  a  Dead  Letter.  So  also  is  the  Rule  forbid- 
ding "The  putting  on  of  gold  and  costly  apparel." 
Why  did  not  the  Bishops  include  this  also  in  their 
recommendation?  A  good  law  is  better  on  the 
Statute  books,  even  though  it  is  not  enforced  than 
none  at  all.  If  a  change  is  made  we  will  lose  our 
hold  on  outsiders.  They  expect  the  Methodist 
Church  to  stand  where  it  has  always  stood,  in  this 
matter. 

A  tidal  wave  of  worldliness  is  sweeping  over  the 
land,  and  the  nations ;  and,  with  proper  deference 
to  the  opinions  of  our  General  Superintendents,  it 
is  my  deliberate  and  candid  judgment  that  this  is 
no  time  to  even  talk  of  a  change.  I  therefore  sin- 
cerely hope  the  minority  report  will  prevail. 

I  informed  the  General  Conference  that  the  re- 
port on  the  Amusement  Question  was  ready  and 
awaiting  their  pleasure.  It  was  never  called  for, 
because  some  one  had  heard  it  thunder;  and  we 
did  not  care  to  push  the  matter,  as  there  was 
nothing  much  to  gain,  inasmuch  as  the  rule  was  in 
the  Discipline.  The  "Third  House"  died  hard. 
They  took  snap  judgment  on  the  Conference  one 
day,  in  a  prolonged  session,  when  many  had  gone 
to  dinner,  and  tried  to  force  through  a  resolution 
referring  paragraph  248  to  the  judiciary  commit- 
tee for  a  judgment  as  to  its  constitutionality,  but 
they  lost  out.  They  tried  to  get  a  resolution 
through  the  Committee  on  Temperance,  taking 
from  paragraph  248  what  is  said  about  strong 
drink,  which  would  have  upset  our  minority  re- 


172      BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

port,  which  was  to  leave  the  paragraph  untouched. 
I  spent  a  half  day,  and  more,  putting  the  mem- 
bers of  that  committee  who  were  opposed  to  the 
Bishops'  recommendation,  wise  as  to  the  object 
of  the  resolution.  It  was  defeated.  Then  in  the 
closing  session,  when  there  was  evidently  no  quo- 
rum present,  many  of  the  delegates  from  the  West 
and  South  having  left  because  the  limit  on  their 
railroad  tickets  was  about  to  expire,  and  they 
were  nearly  all  opposed  to  the  Bishops'  recom- 
mendation, I  learned  that  an  effort  would  be  made 
to  rush  through  the  majority  report.  But  I 
warned  Dr.  Buckley,  Chairman  of  the  Engineering 
Committee,  that  if  they  did,  I  would  call  a  quo- 
rum on  the  house,  which  would  close  the  Confer- 
ence, with  a  lot  of  most  important  business  unfin- 
ished; and  paragraph  248  was  undisturbed. 

Four  years  later,  at  Minneapolis,  the  Bishops, 
evidently  chagrined  over  the  way  their  recommen- 
dation, was  treated  at  Baltimore,  again,  most  un- 
wisely, recommended  the  striking  out  of  this  para- 
graph. The  Third  House,  by  most  unfair  methods 
got  one  of  their  own  number  on  as  chairman  of  the 
Committee  on  the  State  of  the  Church,  to  which 
the  resolution,  embodying  the  Bishops'  recommen- 
dation, was  referred;  and,  as  at  Baltimore,  they 
got  a  sub-committee  to  their  own  liking,  with 
Chancellor  Day  as  Chairman.  Of  course  they 
were  careful  to  see  that  I  was  not  on  the  Commit- 
tee this  time.  The  Sub-Committee  had  a  majority 
report  favoring  (of  course)  elimination,  with  a 
minority  report  opposed.    There  was  a  red  hot  de- 


AMUSEMENTS  173 

bate,  and  the  minority  report  was  adopted  by  an 
overwhelming  majority.  Both  reports  came  be- 
fore the  General  Conference.  The  Machine  of  the 
Third  House  was  put  under  headway,  and  worked 
for  all  it  could  do.  The  debate  lasted  two  days. 
The  first  day  it  was  conducted  fairly.  Bishop 
Lewis  presided.  Six  speeches  were  made  against 
the  majority  report,  which  favored  retaining  the 
paragraph  in  the  Discipline,  and  six  against. 
Next  day,  with  Bishop  Hughes  in  the  chair,  three 
speeches  were  allowed  for  and  seven  against ;  and, 
without  doubt,  the  Bishop  knew  what  he  was  do- 
ing. Some  of  the  strongest  and  most  influential 
members  of  the  Conference  were  clamorous  for  a 
chance  to  speak  for  the  resolution,  but  were  un- 
fairly denied  the  privilege,  as  I  think,  and  also 
many  others. 

The  following  is  the  report  of  the  Daily  Advo- 
cate, as  to  what  I  said  on  the  subject:  "Mr.  Presi- 
dent, we  are  not  legislating  here  alone  for  cities 
and  universities  and  wealthy  churches,  but  for  a 
world-wide  Methodism.  Our  Scandinavian  and 
German  brethren  from  both  sides  of  the  sea  want 
no  change  in  this  matter.  The  same  is  true  of  our 
colored  people  and  the  people  in  India  and 
throughout  almost  the  whole  Church;  but  I  can- 
not discuss  that.  We  are  told  that  the  paragraph 
is  not  enforced,  and  should,  therefore,  be  abro- 
gated. The  law  against  profane  language  is  not 
enforced,  but  who  of  you  is  in  favor  of  abrogat- 
ing that  law?  "We  are  told  that  the  paragraph 
was  enacted  forty  years  ago  and  is  inoperative 


174      BEEAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

because  we  are  dealing  with  twentieth  century- 
problems  and  conditions,  and  in  the  same  breath 
we  are  advised  to  go  back  140  years  for  a  suitable 
rule,  which  is  already  in  the  Discipline.  A  sub- 
stitute for  the  paragraph  is  proposed;  if  it  is 
adopted  it  will  be  as  much  disregarded  as  that  por- 
tion of  general  rule  30  that  forbids  the  wearing 
of  gold  and  costly  apparel,  and  reading  those  books 
which  do  not  tend  to  the  knowledge  and  love  of 
God.  To  be  consistent  we  should  remove  all  re- 
strictions relating  to  conduct  from  the  discipline. 
To  adopt  this  amendment,  and  remove  the  para- 
graph, may  appear  justifiable  as  a  technical  cor- 
rection, but  it  will  be  published  to  the  world  as  a 
removal  of  the  ban,  first,  to  the  injury  of  the  good 
name  of  Methodism;  second,  to  the  weakening  of 
the  hold  of  the  Church  on  the  world ;  third,  to  the 
loosening  of  the  reins  of  restraint  on  the  wayward ; 
fourth,  to  the  removal  of  confidence  of  inexperi- 
enced and  weak  Christians ;  fifth,  to  the  enfeebling 
of  youthful  believers  who  fall  back  on  the  disci- 
pline when  tempted  by  associates  to  enter  the 
world ;  sixth,  to  the  plunging  into  sinful  pleasures 
by  thousands  who  are  waiting  for  the  permission 
of  the  Church  as  they  are  misinterpreting  this 
paragraph.  There  is  a  delegate  in  this  Confer- 
ence who  received  a  letter  from  his  daughter  who 
is  in  a  Methodist  school,  and  he  said,  'Some  of 
the  girls  are  waiting  for  the  Conference  to  remove 
the  paragraph  and  then  they  are  going  to  organize 
a  dancing  class  right  away.'  Seventh,  the  moral 
blight  will  not  be  confined  to  Methodism.   Thou- 


AMUSEMENTS  175 

sands  of  young  people  of  other  denominations, 
who  know  nothing  of  technical  questions  of  Metho- 
dist discipline,  will  say,  inasmuch  as  the  strictest 
denomination  says  that  Christians  may  now  de- 
cide according  to  individual  conscience,  and  go  to 
the  theater  and  the  dance  if  they  feel  it  right, 
therefore  we,  too,  will  decide  as  we  like.  Strike 
out  that  paragraph  and  every  worldling  in  the 
Church  will  rejoice,  and  tens  of  thousands  of  our 
most  devoted  people  will  be  heartbroken  and 
bowed  in  sorrow.  The  world  at  large  has  re- 
spected us  because  we  have  stood  against  dancing, 
card-playing  and  theatre  going;  for  the  unsaved 
think  Christians  should  not  do  these  things.  If 
we  fail  to  respect  their  conviction  we  will  lose  our 
influence  over  them. 

"The  change  proposed  has  alarmed  multitudes 
of  our  very  best  people,  and  startled  the  religious 
world;  and,  if  this  change  is  made,  it  will  create 
such  unrest  and  trouble  throughout  the  Church 
as  to  greatly  hinder  soul-saving  work;  and  the 
flood-gates  of  worldliness  will  be  open." 

Four  hundred  and  forty-four  voted  to  retain 
the  paragraph  in  the  Discipline  and  368  to  strike 
it  out;  and  thus  the  Bishops'  recommendation  was 
turned  down,  as  it  certainly  deserved  to  be.  The 
spectacle  of  the  Church  striking  her  colors  at  the 
dictation  of  a  lot  of  college  officials  who  seem  to 
be  far  more  anxious  to  have  dances  at  their  com- 
mencements than  to  secure  the  salvation  of  their 
unsaved  students,  and  instruct  the  Christians  in 
their  student  bodies  in  spiritual  things,  and  a  lot 


176      BREAKERS !  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

of  rich  worldlings  in  our  churches,  at  a  time  like 
this — when  our  altars  are  deserted,  and  a  tidal 
wave  of  dissolute  worldliness  is  inundating  the 
land,  is  most  surely  humiliating  to  all  good  Metho- 
dists; and  made  all  the  more  so  by  the  Bishops' 
recommendation. 

The  following  appeared  in  the  Daily  Tribune, 
and  indicates  how  some  people  outside  the  Con- 
ference thought  of  the  matter : 

DANCE  ADVOCATES  SCORED 

BISHOP  CRANSTON  AND  CHANCELLOR  DAY  ARE 
GRILLED  IN  LETTER  FROM  IOWA  MAN 

The  following  open  letter  to  Bishop  Cranston 
and  Chancellor  Day  of  the  Methodist  General  Con- 
ference was  received  yesterday  by  The  Tribune 
from  William  M.  Boylan,  postmaster  at  Hubbard, 
la.,  with  the  request  that  it  be  published: 

"Bishop  Cranston  and  Chancellor  Day,  M.  E. 
Conference,  Minneapolis,  Minn. 

1 '  Gentlemen  : 

"I  wish  to  express  to  you  at  this  time  in  the  pub- 
lic prints  (for  it  is  there  you  have  made  yourselves 
most  effectively  felt)  my  most  emphatic  disap- 
proval of  your  supporting  the  movement  against 
the  amusement  rule  as  found  in  our  discipline. 
God  is  to  be  praised  that  you  have  so  ingloriously 
failed  in  your  attempt  to  open  and  pave  it  with 
the  platitudes  of  religion  the  way  that  leads  to 
dens  of  vice,  crime  and  ruin. 


AMUSEMENTS  177 

"By  your  failure  thousands  upon  thousands  of 
young  lives  have  been  saved  to  purity,  decency, 
happiness;  thousands  of  happy  homes  will  be 
blessed  with  contentment;  thousands  of  mothers' 
hearts  will  remain  unbroken,  and  yet,  because  of 
the  publicity  given  to  your  vice-engendering  ut- 
terances, emphasized  by  scholastic  finger  from  un- 
der pompous  ecclesiastic  robes  pointing  to  the 
ways  that  take  hold  of  hell,  whose  feet  of  flesh  go 
down  therein  have  not  power  to  resist  the  temp- 
tation you  suggest,  yet  I  say,  because  of  the 
Christless  code  you  champion,  you  make  our 
Church  contributory  to  the  devil's  den  of  moral 
pollution,  putrid  with  social  degradation,  90  per 
cent,  of  which  is  incipient  in  the  way  at  which  you 
wink. 

"What  you  need  is  a  little  contact  with  the 
world,  the  solid,  wicked,  old  world  of  to-day.  "What 
you  need,  reverend  gentlemen,  is  a  broadened  ex- 
perience that  comprehends  the  Christlife  beset  by 
the  appearance  of  evil.  What  you  need  is  a  daugh- 
ter of  your  own  attending  her  first  dance  at  the 
compromising  suggestion  of  some  ministerial  dig- 
nitary, meeting  there  the  polished  gentleman,  the 
old  sinner  reeking  with  the  slimy  ooze  of  social 
rottenness — meeting  conditions  that  flesh  and 
blood  in  the  ordinary  form  cannot  resist,  does  not 
resist — and  then  in  after  years  throwing  her  life 
of  shame  on  your  broken  heart.  That  is  what  you 
need  to  make  you  think  of  a  million  homes  in  this 
land  of  freedom!  No  person  who  has  ever  gone 
through  such  a  trial  will  ever  champion  the  cause 


178      BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

that  God  in  His  mercy  has  just  made  you  lose. 
You  ought  to  have  grace  enough  in  your  hearts 
to  thank  him  for  it. 

"Do  you  know,  gentlemen,  that  I  would  not 
trust  with  you  the  moral  education  of  a  daughter 
of  mine  ?  Do  you  know  that  if  I  had  a  daughter  in 
a  school  the  head  of  which  advocated,  in  the  name 
of  the  Church,  such  pernicious  moral  standards, 
I  should  call  her  home  that  her  heart  might  be 
kept  pure,  that  her  mind  might  not  become  con- 
taminated by  the  degrading  influences  of  such 
teaching.  Yours  for  the  purity  of  church  life. 

"  William  M.  Boylan." 


CHAPTER  XII 
RICH  MEN 

"The  love  of  money  is  a  root  of  all  kinds  of  evil."  1  Tim.  vi: 
10. 

"The  care  of  the  world,  and  the  deceitfulness  of  riches,  choke 
the  word."  Matt.  13:22. 

"It  is  easier  for  a  camel  to  go  through  the  eye  of  a  needle,  than 
for  a  rich  man  to  enter  into  the  Kingdom  of  God."  Mark  x:  25. 
"My  brethren,  hold  not  the  faith  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the 
Lord  of  glory,  with  respect  of  persons.  For  if  there  come  into 
your  assembly  a  man  with  a  gold  ring,  in  fine  clothing,  and  there 
come  in  also  a  poor  man  in  vile  clothing;  and  ye  have  regard  to  him 
that  weareth  the  fine  clothing,  and  say,  Sit  thou  here  in  a  good 
place;  and  ye  say  to  the  poor  man,  stand  thou  there,  or  sit  under 
my  footstool;  are  ye  not  divided  in  your  own  mind,  and  become 
judges  with  evil  thoughts?  Hearken,  my  beloved  brethren;  did 
not  God  choose  them  that  are  poor  as  to  the  world  to  be  rich  in 
faith,  and  heirs  of  the  Kingdom  which  He  promised  to  them  that 
love  Him?  But  ye  have  dishonored  the  poor  man.  Do  not  the 
rich  oppress  you,  and  themselves  drag  you  before  the  judgment 
seats?  Do  not  they  blaspheme  the  honorable  name  by  the  which 
ye  are  called?  Howbeit  if  ye  fulfill  the  royal  law,  according  to 
the  Scripture,  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself,  ye  do  well : 
but  if  ye  have  respect  of  persons,  ye  commit  sin,  being  convicted 
by  the  law  as  transgressors."    James  ii:  1-9. 

IV/T  R.  WESLEY  once  said :  ' '  Build  your  churches 
^■"■*-  plain  and  inexpensive;  otherwise  rich  men 
will  be  a  necessity  to  you ;  and  when  rich  men  are  a 
necessity  to  you  they  will  rule  over  you ;  and  when 
rich  men  rule  over  you,  good-by  to  Methodism." 
It  is  no  sin  to  be  rich, — providing  one  gets  his 
money  honestly  and  uses  it  wisely :  in  such  a  case 
riches  are  a  blessing.    If  dishonestly  gotten,  they 

179 


180      BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

will  prove  a  curse  to  the  man  who  gets  them  and 
his  children;  as  they  also  will  if  unwisely  used, 
though  honestly  acquired.  A  man  who  gives  gen- 
erously of  his  wealth,  that  has  been  honestly 
gained,  into  the  treasury  of  the  church,  should 
have  voice  in  administering  the  affairs  of  the 
church,  providing  he  is  a  spiritually  minded  man 
and  attends  the  church  prayer-meeting  and  has 
family  prayers ; — but,  no  more  than  the  poor  man 
who  also  is  honest  and  spiritually  minded.  ' '  God 
is  no  respecter  of  persons."  "The  rich  and  poor 
meet  together:  the  Lord  is  the  maker  of  them  all." 
No  greater  curse  could  come  to  a  church  than  to 
have  rich  men  rule  it, — even  though  they  got  their 
money  honestly, — except  it  be  by  men  who  became 
rich  by  unchristian  and  dishonest  methods  an<? 
schemes.  The  Christian  religion  is  conducive  to 
industry,  frugality  and  prosperity;  hence  the 
Methodists  soon  became  a  well-to-do  people,  and 
now  have  great  wealth.  ' '  But  they  that  desire  to 
be  rich  fall  into  a  temptation  and  a  snare  and 
many  foolish  and  hurtful  lusts,  such  as  drown  men 
in  destruction  and  perdition.  For  the  love  of 
money  is  a  root  of  all  kinds  of  evil:  which  some 
reaching  after  have  been  led  astray  from  the  faith, 
and  have  pierced  themselves  through  with  many 
sorrows."  With  the  incoming  of  wealth  and  the 
temptations  that  accompany  it,  many  of  our  peo- 
ple became  restless  under  our  restrictive  rules; 
and,  gradually  consenting  to  the  world's  allure- 
ments, took  up  with  many  of  its  follies,  fashions, 
and  fads;  and,  as  a  result,  lost  their  spiritual 


RICH  MEN  181 

power  and  distinctive  characteristics  as  Metho- 
dists. In  societies  where  this  state  of  affairs  ex- 
isted the  congregations  began  to  thin  out  and  al- 
tars were  soon  deserted.  Then  they  persuaded 
themselves  that  times  had  changed;  and  that  the 
old  methods,  and  Methodism  with  its  asceticism, 
amens  and  revivals  were  not  suited  to  twentieth 
century  conditions;  and  we  must  compete  with 
other  churches  that  never  did  believe  and  act  as 
the  Methodists.  Therefore  fine  churches  must  be 
built,  with  stained-glass  windows,  and  pipe  organs, 
after  the  fashion  of  Rome;  and  paid  choirs,  in 
many  instances  composed  in  whole,  or  in  part,  of 
unchristian  singers.  All  these  things  cost  money ; 
and,  as  Mr.  Wesley  put  it — "Rich  men  become  a 
necessity";  which  fact  has  been  accentuated,  in 
numerous  cases,  because  in  their  unholy  ambition 
to  outdo  and  outshine  other  churches,  they  in- 
curred monetary  obligations  that  embarrassed  and 
hindered  them  in  their  real  work,  and  in  not  a  few 
cases  drove  them  into  both  financial  and  spiritual 
bankruptcy.  If  a  rich  man  took  up  his  residence 
within  the  parishional  boundaries  of  one  of  these 
churches  influential  members  quickly  called  upon 
him  and  his  family,  showing  them  courtesies  they 
never  extended  to  the  poor, — inviting  them  to 
visit  them ;  and  if  they  did,  they  were  obsequiously 
told  to  "Sit  thou  here  in  a  good  place."  If  the 
man  could  be  induced  to  join,  he  was  right  away 
made  a  trustee ;  and  now  he  is  in  for  it.  With  the 
knowledge  of  his  obligations  comes  a  desire  to 
rule;  and  the  brethren  consent,  of  course.    Hav- 


182      BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

ing  little  or  no  spiritual  life  and  vision,  he  sees 
things  from  the  standpoint  of  the  world.  There- 
fore we  must  have  a  ''Modern  preacher";  one 
who  hardly  knows  what  he  believes,  or  if  he  does 
believe  anything  worth  while,  he  must  keep  it  to 
himself,  or  declare  it  in  undertones  and  with  great 
reserve ;  who  must  not  preach  about  sin,  judgment 
and  hell;  or  conviction,  repentance,  regeneration 
and  blood.  These  matters  are  offensive  to  the 
"modern  mind.,,  Of  course  old  time  revivals  are 
not  to  be  tolerated,  they  are  emotional  and  fanati- 
cal, and  this  is  the  "Twentieth  Century,"  and  we 
must  make  good  our  claims  to  be  a  cultured  peo- 
ple. Then  in  order  to  appeal  to  the  aesthetic  ideas 
of  the  world 's  frivolous  society,  and  compete  with 
the  usages  of  the  Church  against  which  Methodism 
was  originally  a  protest,  we  must  have  a  vested 
choir,  with  processionals  and  recessionals, — and 
inevitable  decessionals ; — must  not  say  Amen !  and 
Hallelujah!  as  did  the  Fathers,  but  sing  them  as 
does  Rome.  And  still  the  pews  are  not  crowded, 
simply  because  the  outsider  has  altogether  too 
much  sense  to  be  drawn  to  a  Methodist  Church 
that  has  so  far  departed  from  its  real  mission  and 
work. 

Then  there  is  a  resort  to  lectures  on  popular 
themes,  and  cantatas  and  shows  and  sensational 
and  catchy  things;  but  they  don't  catch  the  crowd. 
All  the  while  the  financial  problem  becomes  more 
and  more  complicated  and  difficult  of  solution. 
Then  the  dear  sisters,  in  their  devotion  to  the 
cause,  get  up  oyster  suppers;  strawberry  festi- 


EICH  MEN  183 

vals ;  Rummage-sales,  Fairs  and  Bazaars  and  a  lot 
of  other  catch-penny  schemes  and  flimflam  the 
gullible,  and  bring  the  Church  into  contempt  with 
the  world ;  and  the  Master  is  wounded  in  the  house 
of  His  friends. 

I  most  heartily  thank  God  for  the  rich  men  we 
have,  who  are  spiritually  minded,  and  for  their 
gifts  into  the  treasury  of  the  Church;  but  the 
Church  can  get  on  without  them  and  their  money. 
If  only  she  is  true  to  her  God-given  mission,  He 
will  supply  all  her  needs,  even  as  He  did  when 
she  had  no  rich  men  in  her  membership. 

The  policy  of  these  individual  churches  is  not 
unlike  that  of  the  Church  denominationally.  Is 
not  the  rich  man  noticeably  in  evidence  on  our 
Church  Boards,  in  official  positions  and  on  all 
State  occassions,  and  as  delegate  to  the  General 
Conferences?  If  a  man  gives  fifty  thousand  or 
more  dollars  to  some  so-called  Methodist  educa- 
tional institution,  or  interest,  he  is  far  more  likely 
to  see  his  portrait  upon  the  first  page  of  an  Advo- 
cate than  that  of  the  humble  minister  who  may 
have  been  instrumental  in  winning  a  thousand 
souls  to  Jesus  Christ.  Go  through  the  printed  re- 
ports of  the  Denomination,  and  you  will  find  the 
dollar  mark  more  in  evidence  than  the  Cross  Mark. 
As  a  result,  our  Church  Boards  are  all  embar- 
rassed for  a  lack  of  funds  sufficient  to  carry  for- 
ward the  work  they  have  in  hand ;  and  most,  if  not 
all  of  them,  groaning  under  the  burden  of  obliga- 
tions they  ought  never  to  have  to  carry,  all  because 
of  a  mistaken  policy. 


184      BREAKERS !  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

Take  our  so-called  Methodist  Schools.  The 
more  money  they  receive  the  more  they  want; — 
and  the  more  un-Methodistic  they  become,  both  in 
doctrine  and  discipline.  They  are  evermore  toady- 
ing to  the  rich  and  appealing  to  denominational 
pride ;  but  their  disloyalty  to  Methodist  principles 
is  open  and  flagrant.  The  law  of  Christ,  with  re- 
gard to  our  dealings  with  our  fellow-men  is  this : 
''Whatsoever  ye  would  that  men  should  do  to  you, 
do  ye  even  so  to  them."  The  law  of  the  world  is 
this — The  big  fish  eat  the  little  fish. 

The  United  States  Supreme  Court  gave  a  clear 
cut  decision  against  the  Standard  Oil  Company, 
and  among  other  things  said: 

' '  We  think  no  disinterested  mind  can  survey  the 
period  in  question  without  being  irresistibly 
driven  to  the  conclusion  that  the  very  genius  for 
commercial  development  and  organization,  which 
it  would  seem  was  manifested  from  the  beginning, 
soon  begot  an  intent  and  purpose  to  exclude  oth- 
ers, which  was  frequently  manifested  by  acts  and 
dealings  wholly  inconsistent  with  the  theory  that 
they  were  made  with  the  single  conception  of  ad- 
vancing the  development  of  business  power  by 
usual  methods,  but  which,  on  the  contrary,  neces- 
sarily involved  the  intent  to  drive  others  from  the 
field  and  exclude  them  from  their  right  to  trade, 
and  thus  accomplish  the  mastery  which  was  the 
end  in  view." 

In  speaking  of  the  Standard  Oil  Company,  in 
the  light  of  this  ruling,  the  Philadelphia  North 
American  expressed  itself,  editorially,  as  follows : 


EICH  MEN  185 

"  You  are  conscious  and  habitual  criminals.  You 
have  robbed  and  oppressed  the  American  people 
and  thugged  out  of  existence  honest  competition 
by  foul  and  unfair  weapons.  We  pronounce  you 
outlaws." 

The  General  Manager  of  the  Standard  Oil  Com- 
pany is  the  financial  head  of  Syracuse  University, 
a  so-called  Methodist  school,  and  has  given  it 
some  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars.  Is  it  on 
record  that  any  official  or  teacher  of  this  Univer- 
sity has  said  one  word  against  this  unchristian 
corporation  and  its  criminal  methods  of  business  ? 

James  A.  Patten  recently  pleaded  guilty  in  the 
Federal  Court  to  the  sixth  count  of  a  charge  of 
conspiracy  in  restraint  of  trade  in  the  so-called 
"cotton  corner"  case.  He  was  fined  $4,000,  which 
he  paid.  Patten  was  indicted  under  the  Sherman 
anti-trust  law  and  a  decision  by  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court  recently  sent  his  case  to  trial.  Mr. 
Patten,  before  the  law,  is  a  criminal ;  and  his  cor- 
nering business  is  as  certainly  gambling  as  run- 
ning a  roulette  wheel  or  dealing  a  game  of  faro. 
The  Northwestern  University,  a  so-called  Metho- 
dist school,  has  no  scruples  whatever  about  receiv- 
ing from  Mr.  Patten  a  great  many  thousands  of 
dollars  he  has  gathered  by  his  unchristian  busi- 
ness methods.  If  one  were  near  enough  and 
would  listen  to  the  sighing  of  the  north  wind,  he 
might  hear  the  moanings  of  Lake  Michigan's 
waves  upon  the  sandy  shore  at  Evanston;  but 
never  a  word  of  condemnation  of  such  disgraceful 
business.    And  yet  there  are  many  hundreds  of 


186      BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

young  men  in  the  student  bodies  of  these  schools, 
from  Methodist  homes,  trying  to  qualify  them- 
selves for  business  and  professional  life. 

The  following  is  from  the  Literary  Digest  of 
January  15,  1910 : 

CARNEGIE  "DENATURIZING"  THE  CHURCH 
COLLEGES 

"On  July  29,  1905  (two  months  after  the  crea- 
tion of  the  trust),  Dr.  George  Edward  Reed,  presi- 
dent of  Dickinson,  sent  forward  the  information 
why  Dickinson  College  should  be  a  beneficiary  of 
the  fund.  A  year  later  he  wrote  stating  that  un- 
der the  charter  '  Clergymen  of  any  body  can  never 
have  more  than  a  definitely  restricted  representa- 
tion on  the  board  of  trustees,'  and  that  'no  Con- 
ference of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has, 
or  can  have,  official  representation  on  the  board 
of  trustees.'  But  this  was  not  enough.  On  Jan- 
uary 7, 1907,  President  Reed  wrote  to  ask  why  the 
college  did  not  appear  in  the  list  of  accepted  in- 
stititutions.    We  quote  from  the  official  record : 

' '  '  The  president  of  the  Foundation  replied  that 
the  trustees  considered  it  inexpedient  for  us  to  an- 
nounce as  undenominational  an  institution  which 
is  classified  in  a  formal  way  by  a  denomina- 
tion as  a  representative  institution  of  that  body 
notwithstanding  the  absence  of  denominational 
control  and  pointed  out  that  Dickinson  College 
appeared  in  an  "official  list"  of  educational  insti- 
tutions of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in 
Methodist  publications. ' 


EICH  MEN  187 

"Its  offense  was  that  the  name  of  the  college 
appeared  in  the  Methodist  Year  Book.  Even  that 
tie  was  too  intimate. 

"On  February  19,  President  Eeed,  says  the  offi- 
cial record,  wrote  that  'a  few  days  previously  the 
board  of  trustees  of  Dickinson  College,  at  an  ad- 
journed meeting  in  Philadelphia,  legally  called, 
passed  a  series  of  resolutions,  from  which  we 
quote  the  following: 

1 '  '  That  Dickinson  College  is  under  the  friendly 
auspices  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  but 
has  never  been  owned  or  controlled  by  any  church 
body. 

1 '  '  That  the  publication  in  any  periodical  of  any 
church,  or  in  any  educational  report,  or  elsewhere, 
that  Dickinson  College  is  under  denominational 
control  is  not  in  harmony  with  facts  and  is  made 
without  authority  of  the  board  of  trustees. 

; '  '  That  in  order  to  avoid  misunderstanding  on 
the  part  of  the  public,  the  president  of  the  college 
is  directed  in  the  future  to  report  the  college  as 
non-sectarian.' 

"Is  there  anything  left?  The  name  of  Dickinson 
College  is  not  even  to  be  in  the  Methodist  Year 
Book.  If  it  is  there,  it  is  'not  in  harmony  with 
facts.'  " 

President  Eeed  succeeded  in  getting  enough 
Carnegie  money  to  erect,  across  a  street  from  the 
college  campus,  what  is  known  as  Conway  Hall. 
Mr.  M.  D.  Conway  was  classed  with  Mr.  Bradlaugh 
and  Eobert  Gr.  Ingersoll  as  the  three  greatest  in- 
fidels of  their  day.    It  is  pretty  generally  believed 


188      BREAKERS !  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

that  Mr.  Carnegie  is  an  agnostic,  and  some  think 
him  an  infidel,  as  touching  the  Bible  and  Christian 
religion, — and  he  was  an  admirer  and  friend  of 
Mr.  Conway.  The  Head  Master  of  Conway  Hall 
is  accountable  to  the  authorities  of  Dickinson  Col- 
lege ;  and  the  Hall  stands  a  monument  to  an  infi- 
del. And  Dickinson  College  appears  on  page  121 
of  The  Methodist  Year  Booh,  for  this  year  1913, 
as  a  Methodist  institution.  In  contrast  with  this 
the  following  press  dispatch  is  of  interest : 

Atlanta,  Gav  June  19,  1913. — The  recently  an- 
nounced gift  of  $1,000,000  to  the  Vanderbilt  Uni- 
versity of  Nashville,  Tenn.,  by  Andrew  Carnegie, 
is,  according  to  Bishop  Warren  Candler  of  the 
Southern  Methodist  Church,  not  a  gift  at  all,  but 
an  attempt  to  "steal"  the  medical  department  of 
the  institution  from  the  Church  "in  order  to  set 
up  a  medical  school  fashioned  according  to  the 
peculiar  ideas  of  Mr.  Carnegie  and  his  educational 
employees." 

Vanderbilt  University  is  under  Southern  Metho- 
dist auspices  and  the  Church  is  now  pushing  a 
suit  to  give  it  complete  control.  In  making  his 
gift  Carnegie  comments  on  this  and  says  it  will  be 
unfortunate  for  the  university  if  the  Church  wins, 
as  he  does  not  believe  in  denominational  control 
of  educational  institutions.  Of  this  statement 
Bishop  Candler  says: 

"Carnegie  puts  his  offer  in  such  relation  to  this 
suit  as  to  make  it  tantamount  to  dangling  money 
before  the  public  with  the  purpose  of  influencing 
the  case.    He  also  denies  the  ability  of  any  and  all 


EICH  MEN  189 

churches  to  manage  and  control  educational  insti- 
tutions, a  preposterous  piece  of  ignorance. 

"I  cannot  doubt  that  this  impudent  proposal 
of  the  aggressive  and  agnostic  steelmonger  will 
provoke  the  indignation  of  the  Christian  people 
of  all  denominations  in  the  country  and  incur  the 
emphatic  disapproval  of  all  thinking  men.  This 
undisguised  attempt  to  disintegrate  a  Christian 
university  is  in  keeping  with  the  well-fixed  purpose 
of  antagonism  to  church  schools  which  Mr.  Car- 
negie has  pursued  for  a  long  time.  Southern 
Methodists  will  not  allow  Vanderbilt  to  be  Car- 
negieized. ' ' 

Dr.  J.  A.  MacDonald,  editor  of  the  Toronto, 
Ont.,  Globe,  in  the  principal  address  delivered  be- 
fore the  general  assembly  of  the  International 
Christian  Endeavor  Convention,  in  Los  Angeles, 
Cal.,  July  10, 1913,  said: 

"From  my  point  of  view  as  a  newspaper  man, 
the  churches  of  America,  alike  in  the  Republic  and 
the  Dominion,  have  in  the  past  been  in  danger  of 
losing  the  national  outlook  and  becoming  mere  de- 
nominations of  the  intellectual  and  the  well-to-do. 

"All  over  America  there  has  grown  up  an  in- 
dustrial absolutism  more  baneful  and  much  more 
arrogant  than  that  of  any  Stuart  queen ;  but  where 
is  the  church  of  John  Knox  that  will  stand  against 
tyranny  and  oppression  for  the  will  of  God  and  for 
the  rights  of  men ! 

"What  does  the  comfortable  church  of  the  well- 
to-do  know  about  the  problem  of  work  or  of 
wages  1    How  can  it  hear  the  passionate  cry  of  the 


190      BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

children  of  America,  a  million  of  them — some  say 
three  millions — caught  in  the  cruel  wheels  of  our 
vast,  heartless  industrial  machine!  How  can  it 
measure  the  agency  of  women  whose  only  alter- 
native is  starvation  or  shame? 

"Why?  Because  of  the  church's  social  apos- 
tasy. Once  again  the  church  has  become  the  con- 
servator of  vested  interests  and  worships  the  God 
of  things  as  they  are." 

Discussing  the  recent  action  of  the  New  York 
Presbytery  in  licensing  three  young  men  to  preach 
who  are  glaringly  heterodox  in  their  views,  the 
New  York  Evening  Post  editorially  says: 
"Clergymen  who  are  wealthy,  or  who  have  rich 
wives,  or  who  are  in  contact  with  luxurious  pa- 
rishioners, cannot  be  expected  to  be  severely  or- 
thodox." 

The  rule  of  the  rich,  in  church  matters,  will 
not  harmonize  with  spiritual  things,  Methodist- 
ically  considered.  Such  rule  spells,  in  the  lan- 
guage of  Mr.  "Wesley,  "Good-by  to  Methodism." 
Take  Ocean  Grove,  N.  J.,  as  an  illustration.  For 
the  past  forty  years  more  good  people  could  be 
found  there  during  July  and  August  than  upon 
any  spot  of  equal  extent  this  side  the  Celestial 
City.  It  was  under  the  control  and  direction  of  god- 
ly men.  The  very  air  of  the  place  used  to  vibrate 
with  spiritual  power  and  blessing.  What  times 
of  refreshing  we  have  there  enjoyed  from  the 
presence  of  the  Lord!  But  there  has  been  a 
change,  though  the  good  people  are  still  there. 
The  control  of  affairs  has  passed  into  other  hands 


EICH  MEN  191 

and  is  largely  dominated  by  the  Money  power. 
The  place  has  been  much  beautified  and  improved 
as  a  Sea-side  Eesort;  but  the  Association  is  now 
more  interested  in  running  Soda  fountains,  Merry- 
go-rounds,  Bowling-alleys,  Shows,  Concerts, 
"Movies,"  etc.,  than  in  getting  sinners  converted 
and  believers  sanctified ;  and,  as  a  result,  the  meet- 
ings are  slimly  attended,  compared  with  those  of 
former  times,  and  one  seldom  hears  "The  Shout 
of  a  King"  in  the  Camp.  On  the  Board  Walk,  on 
a  Bulletin  Board,  I  one  day  read  the  following 
advertisement  of  a  show  in  the  South  End  Pa- 
vilion: "Beno  Bomance.  Breezy  of  the  West. 
Mulligan  Hire  Out.  One  Big  Scream.  Seven 
Drys.  Oscar's  Elopement.  Oh!  you  Oscar.  Con- 
vict's Heroism."  As  I  read,  a  vision  of  Cookman, 
Inskip,  Hughes,  Thornly  and  Stokes  arose  before 
me  and  I  said,  "How  are  the  mighty  fallen,  and 
the  weapons  of  war  perished!" 

Bishop  Franklin  Spencer  Spalding,  in  address- 
ing a  Mass  Meeting  of  the  General  Convention  of 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  in  the  Cathe- 
dral, in  New  York  City,  on  the  evening  of  October 
15,  1913,  among  other  things  said:  "The  Church 
must  stand  on  solid  economic  ground.  She  must 
not  be  ashamed  to  learn  the  lesson  that  God 
teaches — that  labor  and  not  capital  is  the  basis  of 
all  value,  and  that  men  at  their  worst  are  worth 
more  than  dollars  at  their  best.  If  the  Church 
is  to  be  a  real  power  in  the  twentieth  century  she 
must  cease  to  be  merely  the  almoner  of  the  rich, 
and  become  the  champion  of  the  poor." 


CHAPTER  XIII 

SUMMARY 

I  HAVE  pointed  out  the  similarity  of  certain 
present  day  conditions  to  some  that  existed  in 
the  times  of  Wesley,  Luther  and  Pentecost;  and, 
that  there  is  a  Propaganda  in  Methodism  seeking 
to  destroy  some  of  her  doctrines  and  revolutionize 
her  methods  and  usages.  And  the  propagandists 
are  chiefly  among  our  educators  and  General  Con- 
ference officials.  Many  of  our  educators  have 
taken  up  with  the  infidel  objections  to  the  Bible  of 
Voltaire  and  Paine,  to-day  called  M  Higher  Criti- 
cism," and  that  Mr.  Wesley  called  "The  Spawn 
of  hell,"  under  the  plea  of  Scholarship;  and  are 
now  openly  teaching  it  in  our  so-called  Methodist 
Schools,  as  they  have  been,  insinuatingly,  for 
twenty  years.  That  such  teaching  is  in  violation 
of  ordination  vows  and  most  solemn  obligations, 
and  radically  revolutionary  in  its  character, — in- 
deed, anarchistic  in  its  character,  since  the  Consti- 
tution explicitly  declares  Our  Articles  of  Religion 
shall  not  be  changed ;  and  is  wrecking  the  faith  of 
many  and  bringing  the  Church  into  contempt  with 
the  world.  That  because  of  the  dishonor  thus  put 
upon  God's  Word,  the  Holy  Spirit  has  been 
grieved  and  withdrawn  Himself  from  us,  as  a 
Church;  and  being  without  the  Spirit,  we  have 

192 


RICH  MEN  193 

been  hewing  for  ourselves,  "Cisterns,  broken  cis- 
terns, that  can  hold  no  water." 

EDUCATIONAL  INSTITUTIONS 

Those  in  authority  in  our  educational  institu- 
tions are  chiefly  responsible  for  existing  con- 
ditions. Rationalism  is  dominant  and  infidelism 
is  characteristic  of  much  of  the  teaching  in  not  a 
few  of  these  schools,  and  is  not  a  great  deal  unlike 
what  is  given  in  Union  Theological  Seminary,  a 
Presbyterian  derelict,  and  Chicago  University, 
which  is  little  better  than  a  hot  bed  of  infidelity. 
That  the  schools  of  which  these  things  are  true  are 
false  to  solemn  obligations  and  betrayers  of  most 
sacred  trusts. 

SUNDAY-SCHOOL    LITERATURE 

Then  the  work  of  this  propaganda  is  seen  in 
our  Sunday-school  literature,  conspicuously 
and  flagrantly.  Infidel  objections  to  the  Bible  are 
openly  and  freely  proclaimed ;  and  the  doctrine  of 
the  new  birth  as  taught  by  Jesus,  and  believed  by 
the  Church,  is  done  away  with ;  and  revivals,  once 
the  glory  of  Methodism,  are  scouted  and  denied. 

Professor  Camden  M.  Cobern,  of  Allegheny  Col- 
lege, Meadville,  Pa.,  at  Winona  Lake  Bible  Con- 
ference, August  28,  1913,  said:  "Give  the  young 
people  the  new  learning  (sic)  so  that  when  they  go 
to  college  they  will  not  have  to  unlearn  what  they 
learned  at  home."  That  is,  fathers  and  mothers 
cannot  be  trusted  to  teach  their  own  children  the 
Word  of  God, — therefore  teach  higher  criticism  in 


194     BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

the  Sunday-school  and  make  infidels  of  the  young 
people,  else  we  will  have  to  do  it  when  they  go  to 
college.  Professor  Cobern's  counsel  is  an  insult 
to  the  intelligent  and  godly  parents  and  Sunday- 
school  teachers  of  Methodism;  but  is  being  fol- 
lowed, as  far  as  our  Sunday-school  periodicals  are 
concerned. 

Dr.  McFarland,  smarting  under  criticisms  of  his 
work  as  editor  of  our  Sunday-school  publications, 
by  Conferences  and  individuals  from  all  parts  of 
Methodism,  attempts,  in  a  labored  effort  in  the 
October,  1913,  number  of  the  Journal,  to  vindicate 
himself  in  his  anti-biblical  and  un-Methodist  teach- 
ings ;  but  he  only  succeeds  in  making  it  clearer  that 
he  is  doing  incalculable  and  irreparable  harm ;  and 
unless  he  is  soon  brought  to  book,  will  wreck  our 
Sunday-school  work,  from  a  Methodist  standpoint 
of  view.  Among  other  things,  in  this  latest  la- 
bored effusion  he  says:  "But  let  no  unskilled 
workman,  no  glib  performer  or  professional  rav- 
isher  and  mixer  of  emotions,  no  self-styled  spe- 
cialist who  deals  in  hardened  sinners,  no  quack 
and  no  religious  grafter  touch  a  sickle  to  this  field 
of  grain.  Guard  it  alike  from  flood  and  fire,  from 
blight  and  mildew  and  from  grazing  herds.  For 
this  evangelism  must  be  such  as  leads  finally  and 
at  the  God-appointed  time  to  an  intelligent,  volun- 
tary, complete  and  abiding  consecration  of  each 
individual  pupil  to  Christ  and  to  the  upbuilding  of 
His  Kingdom. ' ' 

His  advice  is  wholly  gratuitous  and  an  insult  to 
our  pastors  and  Superintendents.    Such  workmen 


SUMMARY  195 

and  methods  have  never  operated  in  our  Sunday- 
schools  :  our  pastors  and  Superintendents  are  not 
that  kind ;  and  have  altogether  too  much  sense  to 
allow  such  things  from  an  outsider.  It  is  a  bogey 
to  frighten  and  mislead;  it  is  throwing  dust  into 
the  air  to  darken  and  obscure  the  real  truth  and 
issue.  He  simply  does  not  believe  in  child  regen- 
eration— or,  for  that  matter,  for  grown  people. 
His  Fatherhood  of  God  ideas  are  neither  Scrip- 
tural nor  Methodistic;  but  Unitarian,  as  I  have 
clearly  shown  in  a  preceding  chapter. 

PUBLISHING  INTERESTS 

The  same  is  also  true  of  our  Book  Concern 
work,  to  a  large  degree.  The  Book  Commit- 
tee is  largely  dominated  by  a  few  rich  men;  who 
have  little  knowledge  of  the  real  character  of  much 
of  the  literature  the  concern  is  publishing  and  ped- 
dling: they  trust  that  matter  to  the  Book  Editor 
and  the  Agents :  they  are  occupied  with  the  purely 
business  part  of  the  trust;  and,  as  business  men 
they  are  satisfied  as  long  as  profits  on  the  business 
are  good.  But  the  propaganda's  purpose  is  clearly 
seen  in  the  character  of  the  business  done. 

The  Church  papers  are  silent,  save  an  occa- 
sional word  on  the  wrong  side.  The  editors  them- 
selves say  little  or  nothing,  and  will  not  allow  the 
matter  to  be  discussed — for  as  long  as  the  Church 
is  not  aroused  to  the  situation  the  propagandists 
will  be  unhindered  in  pushing  their  work.  Most 
of  our  editors  are  of  them  and  in  sympathy  with 
what  they  are  doing. 


196      BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

EVANGELISM 
Revivals,  once  the  glory  of  Methodism,  and 
that  made  the  Church  great  in  every  sense 
are,  by  this  propaganda,  tabooed.  When  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  Commission  was  projected  the 
Committee  was  of  one  mind  as  to  two  things,  viz. 
— First — Another  society  or  organization,  with 
headquarters  in  New  York,  and  paid  secretaries 
travelling  the  country  widely,  at  great  expense,  and 
taking  up  the  time  of  Annual  Conferences,  telling 
them  what  to  do,  even  things  they  had  themselves 
never  done ;  and  filling  the  waste  paper  baskets  of 
pastors'  studies  with  circulars  of  advice  both  un- 
necessary and  unsensible,  was  not  needed;  the 
Church  being  already  overloaded  and  embarrassed 
by  Societies  and  Secretaries ;  Second — the  Metho- 
dist Church  has  numbers,  money  and  influence 
enough  to  take  this  country  for  God,  if  properly 
directed ;  that  what  was  needed,  was  to  have  some 
one  to  go  throughout  the  Church,  like  Peter  the 
Hermit,  to  arouse  it  to  a  holy  crusade.  The  com- 
mission was  duly  authorized  and  organized. 
Within  two  years  the  management  was  captured 
by  the  propagandists,  and  for  seven  years  has  been 
used  by  them  to  further  their  plans  and  the  candi- 
dacy of  certain  aspirants  for  official  positions. 
Real  Scriptural  and  Methodist  revivals  have  not 
been  promoted;  for  the  simple  reason  that  those 
in  control  do  not  believe  in  them,  and  have  done 
nothing  to  bring  them  about.  They  have  had 
splendid  opportunities  to  do  great  things  for  God, 
but  have  utterly  failed  to  arouse  the  Church. 


SUMMAEY  197 

THE  EPISCOPACY 

A  majority  of  our  bishops  are  evidently  in 
sympathy  with  the  infidel  teaching  of  the  schools, 
or  surely  they  would  openly  and  unequivocally 
declare  against  it.  Dr.  G.  P.  Mains  has  declared 
that  five  of  them  had  read  and  approved  of  his 
book,  which  is  full  of  infidel  objections  to  the 
Bible. 

The  following  is  from  the  Chicago  Daily  Inter- 
Ocean  of  October  7, 1912: 

"William  F.  McDowell,  Dean  of  the  Bishops  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  sometimes 
called  '  the  grand  old  man  of  Methodism, '  declared 
before  yesterday's  session  of  the  Bock  Eiver  Con- 
ference that  under  the  light  of  modern  research, 
many  of  the  Bible's  stories  need  no  longer  be 
taken  as  literal.  In  speaking  of  the  moral  diffi- 
culties of  the  Bible,  Bishop  McDowell  said: 

"  'I  have  always  thought  that  Jacob  was  a 
mighty  mean  man.  He  was  the  very  essence  of 
meanness.  I  would  have  no  dealings  with  him 
except  in  the  presence  of  an  attorney.  I  would 
not  invite  him  home  to  dinner  without  locking  up 
the  silverware  and  the  cut  glass.  In  fact,  I  don't 
think  it  was  at  all  to  God's  credit  to  have  any- 
thing to  do  with  him,  as  he  was  a  thief  and  a  sup- 
planter. 

"  'It  was  highly  creditable  to  God  to  wrestle 
with  him  the  way  He  did,  and  we  may  learn  a 
great  lesson  from  it. 

1 '  '  Preachers  have  tried  to  reconcile  science  and 


198      BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

the  Bible,  but  the  Bible  never  set  itself  up  as  an 
authority  on  geology. 

11  'The  critical  controversy  does  not  affect  the 
great  message  of  the  Bible,  which  is  that  of  re- 
demption. I  don't  know  whether  there  was  one 
Isaiah  or  two,  and  I  am  not  sure  who  wrote  the 
letter  to  the  Hebrews,  but  I  know  that  the  writings 
contain  the  truth  of  God.  The  Bible  is  lifted 
above  the  possibility  of  being  injured  by  the  higher 
criticism.'  " 

Thursday  afternoon,  July  10,  1913,  in  the  Tab- 
bernacle,  at  Ocean  Grove,  N.  J.,  at  "The  Achieve- 
ment and  Opportunity  Convention,"  in  the  inter- 
ests of  the  Home  Mission  and  Church  Extension 
Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
Bishop  Theodore  S.  Henderson,  in  an  address  to 
the  Convention,  mentioned  Rev.  George  Jackson's 
book,  The  Preacher  and  The  Modern  Mind,  from 
which  I  have  made  numerous  quotations  in  a  pre- 
vious chapter,  and  commended  it  to  his  hearers. 
By  the  quotations  I  have  made  from  that  book,  I 
have  proven  it  to  be  faith-wrecking  and  soul-de- 
stroying. 

At  Winona  Lake  Bible  Conference,  August  28, 
1913,  Bishop  Edwin  H.  Hughes  in  a  sermon  said : 
"Let  no  man  at  the  peril  of  his  soul  raise  an  issue 
in  the  mind  of  a  young  convert  between  Charles 
Darwin  and  Jesus  Christ."  A  previous  speaker 
at  the  Conference  had  called  attention  to  what 
Jesus  said  about  the  creation  of  man,  as  verifying 
the  Genesis  account  of  the  same,  and  annulling 


SUMMARY  199 

the  progressive  evolutionary  theory  of  Darwin; 
all  of  which  is  significant.  Let  it  also  be  noted  in 
this  connection  that  with  some  of  our  Bishops  en- 
tertaining destructive  higher  critical  views  of  the 
Bible  and  so-called  new  theology,  by  a  preacher, 
in  no  way  stands  in  the  way  of  his  advancement, — 
indeed,  it  seems  that  some  of  our  Bishops  put  a 
premium  upon  such  views.  When  we  note  how 
many  of  the  big  wealthy  churches  have  such  men 
as  pastors;  and,  how  many  men  of  acknowledged 
ability,  who  are  loyal  to  the  Bible  and  the  doctrines 
and  usages  of  Methodism,  never  get  such  churches, 
but  are  usually  sent  to  second,  third  and  even 
fourth  rate  appointments,  we  certainly  have  suffi- 
cient reason  for  thinking  thus  about  this  matter. 

ECCLESIASTICAL  POLITICS 

A  political  machine,  doing  business  along 
pretty  much  the  same  lines  as  "Tammany 
Hall,"  in  New  York,  and  the  "City  Hall  Gang," 
in  Philadelphia,  is  operating  widely  and  perni- 
ciously, in  the  Methodist  Church;  and  chiefly 
through  this  Machine  and  its  methods,  the  propa- 
ganda has  acquired  almost  supreme  control  of  the 
machinery  of  the  Church.  The  number  of  Bishops 
to  elect  at  the  next  General  Conference  has  al- 
ready been  determined,  and  the  gentlemen  who  are 
to  receive  the  honors  decided  upon;  and  the  ma- 
chine must  be  made  to  work  to  that  end, — even  as 
is  has  been  since  the  last  General  Conference.  The 
brethren  who  are  to  receive  these  honors  will  be 
put  to  the  front  on  all  great  occasions,  and  made 


200      BREAKERS !  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

prominent  in  the  Church  publications.  This  plan 
of  procedure  has  worked  pretty  well  in  other  quad- 
renniums,  so  the  politicians  think,  and  it  will  be 
continued. 

AMUSEMENTS 

The  open  and  pretty  general  disregard  of  dis- 
ciplinary rules  as  to  conduct;  together  with 
the  humiliating  spectacle  of  our  bishops  yielding 
to  the  demands  of  the  worldly  rich  and  lawless 
among  us,  at  a  time  when  the  whole  country  is,  as 
never  before,  inundated  with  a  card-playing, 
theatre-going,  dancing  craze,  persistently  praying 
the  General  Conference  to  abrogate  our  rule  in 
the  matter,  and  allow  our  members  to  do  as  they 
please,  impressively  indicates  the  character  and 
extent  of  the  propaganda's  work  and  influence. 
If  we  believed  the  Bible  to  be  God's  Word,  and 
were  loyal  to  our  doctrines  and  usages  as  Metho- 
dists, the  demand  would  be  for  the  enforcement 
of  our  rules,  even  to  expulsion  from  our  member- 
ship of  all  who  persistently  disobey.  A  great 
sweeping  revival  in  Methodism  and  unprecedented 
prosperity  lies  in  that  direction,  and  not  in  yield- 
ing to  the  demands  of  the  worldlings  among  us. 

RICH  MEN 

I  have  pointed  out,  both  from  the  Scriptures 
and  Mr.  Wesley's  utterances,  the  peril  to 
Methodism,  of  the  rule  of  the  rich ;  and,  that  in  a 
very  important  and  vital  sense,  they  do  rule,  in 
most  of  our  large  and  well-to-do  churches,  as 
also   in   directing  the   general  government   and 


SUMMARY  201 

policy  of  the  denomination ;  and  their  influence  is 
largely  in  the  interests  of  the  revolutionary  and 
destructive  work  of  the  propaganda. 

Our  altars  are  deserted.  Our  members  are  run- 
ning after  so-called  Christian  science,  theosophy, 
spiritualism,  new  thought,  Russellism,  and  other 
unchristian  and  unsensible  cults.  Our  congrega- 
tions are  growing  smaller,  and  many  of  the  out- 
siders are  having  less  and  less  respect  for  us. 
The  spiritual  interests  of  the  Church  are  languish- 
ing ;  and  worldliness,  ritualism  and  formalism  are 
alarmingly  upon  the  increase ;  and  the  propagan- 
dists are  responsible  for  this  sad  and  shameful 
condition  of  affairs. 


CHAPTER  XIV 
THE  OUTLOOK 

"Remember  therefore  from  whence  thou  art  fallen,  and  repent, 
and  do  the  first  works;  or  else  I  come  to  thee,  and  will  move  thy 
candlestick  out  of  its  place,  except  thou  repent."     Rev.  ii :  5. 

THE  situation  is  indeed  dark  and  unpromising. 
The  Bishops  in  their  address  to  the  last  Gen- 
eral Conference  stated  it  thus :  "It  shames  and  hu- 
miliates us.  Only  tears  of  repentance  become  us ; 
our  hearts  bleed  contrition.  If  the  soul  be  dying 
within  us,  what  have  we  to  legislate  fort  What 
are  honors  or  offices  worth  in  an  army  that  does 
not  win  battles?" 

But  there  is  nothing  too  hard  for  the  Lord. 
The  trouble  is  with  the  Church;  can  it  be  led  to 
"Repent  and  do  the  first  works?"  I  hope  so.  I 
have  great  and  abiding  faith  in  the  living  God. 
"The  people  that  do  know  their  God  shall  be 
strong,  and  do  exploits";  but  there  are  so  many 
of  our  members  who  do  not  know  God,  experimen- 
tally,— they  have  a  name  to  live  and  are  dead; 
"Having  a  form  of  godliness,  but  denying  the 
power  thereof";  our  trouble  is  with  these. 

WHAT  CAN  AND  OUGHT  TO  BE  DONE? 

First — The  Bishops  should  do  certain  things, 
viz.:  (a)  Declare  themselves  clearly  and  unmistak- 
ably as  opposed  to  Higher  Criticism,  popularly  so 

202 


THE  OUTLOOK  203 

called,  and  any  other  criticism  that  challenges  and 
denies  the  integrity  and  supreme  authority  of  the 
Bible  as  God's  Word,  and  invalidates  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  (b) 
Wash  their  hands  of  all  sympathy  and  connection 
with  the  "Machine,"  and  use  their  commanding 
influence  to  overthrow  and  destroy  it.  (c)  Appoint 
no  man  to  a  pastorate  or  position  of  importance 
who  is  in  sympathy  with  Higher  Criticism  and  so- 
called  "New  Theology," — nor  at  the  request  or 
dictation  of  the  merely  rich ;  and  give  the  best,  at 
their  disposal,  to  the  faithful  ones  who  are  loyal 
to  our  doctrines  and  usages,  (d)  Get  out  among 
the  common  people,  and  the  weak  churches  more 
than  they  do. 

Second — Give  never  a  penny  to  any  school 
where  Higher  Criticism  is  tolerated  or  taught,  and 
the  Disciplinary  rule  on  Amusements  is  violated; 
nor  allow  any  of  our  young  people  to  matriculate 
there.  Better  Carnegieize  such  schools,  and  put 
the  millions  of  money  they  are  costing  us  into 
"Home  Missions  and  Church  Extension,"  Foreign 
Missions  and  other  soul-saving  work. 

Third — Inasmuch  as  the  editor  of  our  Sunday- 
school  periodicals  refuses  to  heed  the  admonition 
given  him  by  the  last  General  Conference,  and  to 
respect  the  protests  that  have  been  made  against 
his  teaching,  and  persists  in  his  mischievous,  faith- 
destroying  work,  it  is  the  bounden  duty  of  our 
pastors  and  Sunday-school  officials  to  exclude  this 
literature  from  the  schools,  as  many  have  done, 
and  more  are  doing.     The  Wilmington  Annual 


204      BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

Conference  at  its  last  meeting  passed  the  follow- 
ing without  a  dissenting  voice : — 

Whereas,  for  a  period  of  seven  years,  our  Con- 
ference has  been  protesting  against  the  higher 
critical  use  being  made  of  our  Sunday-school  lit- 
erature ;  and, 

Whereas,  up  to  the  present  time,  little  attention 
has  been  paid  to  these  protests ;  and, 

Whereas,  our  Conferences,  together  with  other 
Annual  Conferences,  prayed  the  recent  General 
Conference  for  relief,  but  received  none,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  we  call  upon  the  authorities  of 
the  Church  to  bring  these  offending  brethren  to 
trial  promptly  in  their  Annual  Conferences. 

Resolved,  further,  that  we  hereby  give  notice  to 
the  proper  authorities  that  unless  this  remedy  is 
applied,  we  will  exercise  our  constitutional  rights. 

That  has  the  right  ring,  as  all  loyal  Methodists 
will  allow. 

Fourth — Refuse  to  subscribe  for  any  of  the 
Church  papers  that  does  not  ring  true  to  the  Bible 
and  the  doctrines  of  the  Church,  and  genuine  Holy 
Ghost  revivals;  in  other  words,  is  not  what  a 
Methodist  Church  paper  should  be. 

Fifth — As  long  as  the  Book  Concern  publishes, 
and  Methodist  Book  Stores  peddle,  books  contain- 
ing infidel  objections  to  the  Bible,  Methodist  peo- 
ple should  not  patronize  them. 

Sixth — Send  no  General  Conference  officials  to 
the  General  Conference  as  delegates.  It  is  most 
unwise.    It  is  safe  to  say  that  every  such  man  de- 


THE  OUTLOOK  205 

sires  to  retain  his  office  or  get  a  better  one.  The 
principle  is  vicious  and  unrepresentative.  Some 
years  ago  I  asked  a  member  of  the  New  York  East 
Conference,  How  many  delegates  to  the  General 
Conference  do  you  elect?  He  replied,  "Two."  I 
said  surely  you  must  be  entitled  to  six  or  seven. 
He  then  said,  "We  are  entitled  to  seven,  but  we 
only  elect  two."  That  is,  there  were  five  members 
of  that  Conference  having  General  Conference 
jobs  and  these  of  course  expected  to  be  sent. 

Seventh — Send  no  rich  men  to  General  Confer- 
ence unless  they  are  spiritually  minded,  prayer- 
meeting  attending  men.  Under  no  circumstances 
send  any  one  who  is  worldly  minded. 

Eighth — Do  away  with  the  General  Conference 
Commission  on  Evangelism  as  soon  as  possible. 
For  the  past  seven  years  it  has  been  controlled 
by  inexperienced  and  incompetent  men,  who  have 
misdirected  it,  and  it  has  utterly  failed  to  accom- 
plish the  object  had  in  view  in  its  creation. 

Ninth — Put  a  stop  to  the  senseless  rule  of  hav- 
ing the  Agents  of  Church  Societies  and  Boards 
taking  the  time  of  the  Annual  Conferences  with 
their  reports  and  jokes,  and  candidacies,  and  de- 
vote the  time  to  helping  the  local  pastor  and 
church  solve  some  of  their  difficulties.  The  offi- 
cial secretaries  and  agents  can  submit  printed  re- 
ports of  their  work,  and,  by  staying  at  home  save 
a  lot  of  time  and  expense,  and  the  Conference 
would  have  some  chance  to  do  a  lot  of  soul-saving 
work  during  its  sessions. 


206      BEEAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

WHAT  CAN,  AND  MAY  BE  DONE? 

Extraordinary  measures  become  a  necessity 
sometimes.  If  the  tide  does  not  soon  turn  some 
things  strikingly  unusual  may  happen.  For  in- 
stance, General  Superintendents  might  be  elected 
for  four  years  and  no  more,  and  then  returned  to 
the  pastorate,  and  the  District  Superintendents 
elected  by  the  Annual  Conferences.  Personally  I 
think  such  a  change  would  be  a  good  one  to  make ; 
for  the  following  reasons,  viz.:  First — It  would 
do  away  with  much  of  the  machine  politics  that  is 
cursing  us.  Second — It  would  put  a  quietus  to  the 
hierarchical  notions  and  nonsense  with  which  some 
of  the  brethren  are  afflicted.  Third — It  would  en- 
able us  to  easily  get  rid  of  incompetent  and  ineffi- 
cient men  that  are  sometimes  chosen  to  this  office. 
Fourth — Competent  and  deserving  men  would 
stand  a  better  chance  to  be  honored,  and  the 
Church  have  a  greater  variety  and  higher  grade 
of  administration.  Fifth — It  would  dignify  the 
pastorate,  which  is  just  now  sadly  in  need  of  some- 
thing of  the  kind,  judging  by  the  numbers  who  are 
ready  to  quit  it  for  almost  any  other  job. 

Or,  it  might  come  to  pass  that  the  Church  would 
make  up  its  mind  to  do  away  entirely  with  the 
General  and  District  Superintendency,  as  we  now 
have  them.  No  other  branch  of  Methodism  has  a 
machine  at  all  like  it.  Each  Annual  Conference  of 
the  Methodist  Protestant  Church  elects  its  own 
president  and  cabinet.  They  make  the  appoint- 
ments and  administer  the  affairs  of  the  Confer- 
ence, and  remain  in  the  pastorate.    Such  a  rule 


THE  OUTLOOK  207 

with  us  would  make  an  end  of  the  ecclesiastical 
political  Machine  that  is  a  disgrace  to  us,  and  save 
about  one  million  and  a  half  of  dollars  annually 
to  the  Church ;  and  then  the  Methodist  Protestants 
would,  without  doubt,  return  to  us. 

And  the  Church  may  make  up  its  mind  to  dis- 
pose of  its  book  publishing  and  peddling  busi- 
ness to  the  highest  bidder,  and  devote  itself  to  its 
God  appointed  work  of  saving  the  lost  and  mak- 
ing real,  live,  Holy  Ghost  Methodists  out  of  them. 

And  it  may  decide  to  do  away  with  official 
papers  and  periodicals.  If  it  does,  three  things 
would  follow.  First — the  Church  would  save 
money.  Second — it  would  help  to  make  an  end  of 
the  machine,  and,  Third — it  would  promote  a 
democratic  spirit  among  us, — something  we  pro- 
fess to  stand  for. 

It  is  certain  the  Methodist  Church  is  not  suc- 
cessfully accomplishing  her  mission, — nor  can  she 
under  the  present  order  of  things ;  and  it  is  abso- 
lutely certain  she  will  be  dashed  upon  the  rocks 
of  apostasy  if  the  propaganda,  with  its  God-dis- 
honoring and  faith-destroying  methods  and  work, 
prevails. 


CHAPTER  XV 
THE  NEED  OF  THE  HOUR 

THE  one  supreme  need  of  the  Church  is  the 
Holy  Spirit, — without  Him  we  can  do  noth- 
ing ;  for  it  is  *  '  Not  by  might,  nor  by  power,  but  by 
my  Spirit  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts." 

In  the  Bishop 's  address  to  the  last  General  Con- 
ference, occurs  the  following:  ''Methodism  was 
meant  to  be  an  itinerant  revival — a  moving  Pente- 
cost. Into  its  wheels  was  breathed  the  Master's 
word,  Go !  It  is  not  geared  for  standing  still.  Its 
equilibrium  depends  upon  forward  motion.  It 
wobbles  only  when  speed  is  slackened.  It  will  top- 
ple over  into  the  ecclesiastical  scrap-pile  if  it 
stops.    Therefore  it  must  not  stop." 

But  it  "Wobbles"  according  to  their  own  con- 
fession; and  "Wobbles"  because  it  is  without  the 
Spirit.  Certainly  it  has  numbers,  money,  learn- 
ing, influence  and  what  not,  humanly  speaking, 
sufficiently,  to  make  things  move.  But  it  requires 
life,  to  make  the  wheels  move, — "For  the  Spirit  of 
the  living  creature  was  in  the  wheels. ' '  See  Ezek. 
i :  15-21.  Surely  without  Him  the  Church  will 
soon  be  in  "The  ecclesiastical  scrap-pile."  We 
have  grieved  Him  because  of  the  dishonor  we  have 
put  upon  the  Bible  and  tolerated  as  a  Church; 
and  by  denying  Him  His  place  as  Convincer,  Re- 
generator,   Witnesser,    Sanctifier,    Teacher    and 

208 


THE  NEED  OF  THE  HOUR  209 

Guide,  and  He  has  left  us,  to  our  own  resources, 
and  into  the  Scrap-pile  we  go, — unless  He  returns ; 
but  "Will  He?  Yes,  He  will, — if  we  repent  and 
confess  our  sins,  and  make  reparation,  by  honor- 
ing the  Bible  as  we  should,  and  giving  Him  His 
proper  place  and  recognizing  His  manifold  and 
gracious  offices  and  ministries. 

Our  next  greatest  need  is  the  right  kind  of  lead- 
ers. We  need  as  leaders  men  with  iron  in  their 
blood,  grace  in  their  hearts,  sense  in  their  heads, 
and  a  backbone.    Mr.  Spurgeon  once  said : 

"A  great  many  would  say — What  a  fool  Moses 
was  to  give  up  what  others  covet!  I  fear  that 
many  of  you  professors  would  not  lose  a  situation 
for  Christ.  Some  of  you  could  not  lose  a  shilling 
a  week  of  extra  pay  for  the  Lord.  Ah,  me,  this  is 
a  miserable  age!  Go  with  a  lancet  throughout 
these  Isles,  and  you  could  not  get  enough  martyr- 
blood  to  fill  a  thimble.  Backbones  are  scarce,  and 
grit  is  a  rare  article.  Men  do  not  care  to  suffer 
for  Christ;  but  they  must  be  respectable,  they 
must  vote  in  the  majority  and  be  thought  well  of 
for  their  charity.  As  to  standing  up  and  standing 
out  for  Christ,  it  is  looked  upon  as  an  eccentricity, 
or  worse.  To-day  if  a  young  man  proposed  to 
sacrifice  his  position  for  Christ's  sake,  father,  and 
mother,  and  friends  would  all  say:  'Do  not  think 
of  such  a  thing.  Be  prudent.  Do  not  throw  away 
your  chance.'  Once  men  could  die  for  conscience 
sake;  but  conscience  is  nowadays  viewed  as  an 
ugly  thing,  expensive  and  hampering.  No  doubt 
many  advised  Moses  to  be  called  the  son  of  Pha- 


210      BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

raoh's  daughter,  but  he  steadily  refused.  He 
deliberately  divested  himself  of  his  rank  that  he 
might  be  numbered  with  the  down-trodden  people 
of  God." 

We  need  men  with  clear  vision,  consuming  zeal, 
quenchless  fervor  and  undaunted  courage;  who 
can  organize  and  lead  our  forces  to  victory;  and 
are  ready  to  die  for  the  truth  of  God.  There  is 
war  between  Christ  and  Satan, — a  war  to  the 
finish.  The  Captain  of  our  Salvation  did  not  come 
1 '  To  send  peace,  but  a  sword ; ' '  and,  we  are  com- 
manded to  "Endure  hardness,  as  a  good  soldier 
of  Jesus  Christ;"  " Fight  the  good  fight  of  faith;" 
11  Contend  earnestly  for  the  faith  once  for  all  de- 
livered unto  the  saints,"  etc.  Some  time  ago  a 
man  said  to  me:  "I  believe  in  peace. ' '  I  replied : 
So  do  I;  but  that  is  impossible  on  grounds  of  dis- 
loyalty to  God's  Holy  Word.  It  is  "First  pure, 
then  peaceable."  "But,"  he  said,  "I  do  not  like 
to  fight. ' '  I  replied :  Neither  do  I,  but  I  will,  when 
truth  and  honor  are  at  stake.  I  then  asked  him: 
Can  you  name  any  man  in  all  the  history  of  the 
Church,  who  lived  one  hundred  years  after  he  was 
dead,  who  was  not  a  fighter? 

Recently  a  prominent  Methodist  asked  me: 
"Have  we  any  really  great  men  in  our  Church?" 
I  answered:  No!  He  then  asked,  "Why?"  I  re- 
plied: We  have  many  men  who  have  all  the  ele- 
ments of  greatness,  but  are  not  great  because  they 
have  never  been  tested.  Great  men  are  forged  in 
the  furnace  of  trial,  conflict,  suffering  and  contro- 
versy.   This  is  an  age  of  finesse  and  mollycoddle- 


THE   NEED  OF  THE   HOUR         211 

ism.  About  the  only  fighting  some  do,  in  these 
days,  is  to  put  a  knife  into  the  back  of  the  man 
who  is  on  the  firing  line  doing  his  duty.  We  must 
fight  or  surrender.  The  following  is  from  the 
Christian  Advocate,  and  is  all  right:  ""When 
Christianity  dispenses  wholly  with  controversy  it 
will  be  like  a  sleeping  man — harmless  and  help- 
less. So  it  is  and  ever  will  be.  Controversy  was 
the  life  of  Paul's  works — polite  controversy, 
brotherly  controversy ;  but  strong  in  exposing  er- 
ror and  building  up  the  truth.  The  epistles  are 
full  of  controversy.  Moreover,  many  of  Christ's 
sayings  were  strictly  controversial."  And  so  it 
will  be  until  this  vision  is  fulfilled:  "And  I  saw 
the  heaven  opened ;  and  behold,  a  white  horse,  and 
He  that  sat  thereon,  Faithful  and  true;  and  in 
righteousness  He  doth  judge  and  make  war.  And 
His  eyes  are  a  flame  of  fire,  and  upon  His  head 
are  many  diadems ;  and  He  hath  a  name  written, 
which  no  man  knoweth  but  Himself.  And  He  is 
arrayed  in  a  garment  sprinkled  with  blood;  and 
His  name  is  called  The  Word  of  God.  And  the 
armies  which  are  in  heaven  followed  Him  upon 
white  horses,  clothed  in  fine  linen  white  and  pure. 
And  out  of  His  mouth  proceedeth  a  sharp  sword, 
that  with  it  He  should  smite  the  nations ;  and  He 
shall  rule  them  with  a  rod  of  iron;  and  He  tread- 
eth  the  winepress  of  the  fierceness  of  the  wrath  of 
Almighty  God.  And  He  hath  on  His  garment  and 
on  His  thigh  a  name  written,  King  of  kings,  and 
Lord  of  Lords." 
Also,  we  need  preachers  who  will  obey  instruc- 


212      BREAKERS!  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

tions  by  preaching  the  Word.  Preachers  who  be- 
lieve the  Bible  with  unquestioning  faith ;  who  have 
experienced  its  life-giving  and  sustaining  power; 
to  go  forth  and  proclaim  it  with  fidelity  and  holy 
boldness.  It  is  the  only  thing  God  has  promised 
to  use  in  the  conviction  and  salvation  of  souls; 
and,  He  has  promised  it  shall  not  return  unto  Him 
void  when  preached  according  to  directions.  The 
pastor  who  will  faithfully  "Feed  the  flock  of  God" 
every  Sunday  morning;  and  every  Sunday  even- 
ing preach  about  sin,  law,  judgment,  hell,  wrath, 
redemption,  repentance,  regeneration,  etc.  etc., 
will  not  be  long  without  definite  and  desirable  re- 
sults. "We  will  have  old  time  power  and  results 
when,  with  old  time  fervor  and  faithfulness  we 
tell  out  the  King's  message. 

"  These  things  saith  the  Amen,  the  faithful  and 
true  Witness,  the  beginning  of  the  creation  of 
God :  I  know  thy  works,  that  thou  art  neither  cold 
nor  hot;  I  would  thou  wert  cold  or  hot.  So  be- 
cause thou  art  lukewarm,  and  neither  hot  nor  cold, 
I  will  spew  thee  out  of  my  mouth.  Because  thou 
sayest,  I  am  rich,  and  have  gotten  riches,  and  have 
need  of  nothing;  and  knowest  not  that  thou  art 
the  wretched  one  and  miserable  and  poor  and  blind 
and  naked;  I  counsel  thee  to  buy  of  me  gold  re- 
fined by  fire,  that  thou  mayest  be  rich ;  and  white 
garments,  that  thou  mayest  cloth  thyself  and  that 
the  shame  of  thy  nakedness  be  not  made  manifest ; 
and  eye  salve  to  anoint  thine  eyes  that  thou  may- 
est see.  As  many  as  I  love,  I  reprove  and  chasten ; 
be  zealous  therefore,  and  repent.    Behold  I  stand 


THE  NEED  OF  THE  HOUE  213 

at  the  door  and  knock :  if  any  man  hear  my  voice 
and  open  the  door,  I  will  come  in  to  him,  and  will 
sup  with  him,  and  he  with  Me.  ...  He  that  hath 
an  ear,  let  him  hear  what  the  Spirit  saith  to  the 
churches. ' '    Eev.  iii :  14-22. 

CONCLUDING  PRAYER 

0  Lord  God,  the  Covenant  God  of  Abraham, 
Isaac  and  Jacob,  God  of  Moses  and  Aaron,  who 
wast  a  "mouth"  to  Moses  and  put  Thy  Words 
into  his  mouth  and  into  Aaron's  mouth;  didst  give 
us  the  five  books  of  Moses,  and  didst  touch  Isai- 
ah's lips  with  fire,  and  inspire  all  Thy  holy  proph- 
ets who  "spake  as  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost," 
and  hast  given  us  the  Old  Testament,  "every  writ- 
ing of  which  is  God-breathed;"  Thou  who,  in 
"these  last  days,"  didst  speak  to  us  "in  Thy 
Son,"  so  that  He  spake  nothing  from  Himself, 
and  who  didst  guide  the  Apostles  and  the  Evan- 
gelists "into  the  full  truth" — bless  this  humble 
effort  to  defend  Thy  Word  against  its  perverters 
and  corrupters  and  deniers  in  these  days — this 
effort  to  maintain  the  supreme  and  infallible  au- 
thority of  the  Scriptures,  and  the  Veracity  and 
Honor  of  Thine  only  begotten  Son,  Jesus  Christ, 
our  Lord.  Wake  up  the  Churches  and  the  minis- 
try to  a  sense  of  the  danger  that  threatens  the 
very  foundations  of  the  Religion  of  which  am- 
bitious men  are  trying  to  relay  by  false  scholar- 
ship and  destructive  criticism.  Pour  out  Thy 
Spirit  upon  the  Bishops  of  the  Methodist  Church, 
and  all  who  bear  rule,  and  may  they  more  than 


214      BREAKERS !  METHODISM  ADRIFT 

ever  "watch  for  souls  as  they  who  must  give  ac- 
count" to  God,  and  who  are  "set  for  the  defense 
of  the  Gospel."  Help  them  to  "contend  earnestly 
for  the  faith  once  for  all  delivered  to  the  saints" 
— to  "watch,  stand  fast,  quit  themselves  like  men, 
and  be  strong."  Sweep  the  spreading  "Spawn 
of  Hell ' '  from  our  communion !  and  get  to  Thyself 
great  glory.  As  "the  Enemy  comes  in  like  a  flood, 
lift  up  a  Standard  against  him."  Bless  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Churches  everywhere  with  an  inextin- 
guishable love  and  reverence  for  Thy  Holy  Word, 
and  put  away  from  us  a  false  "liberty,"  that 
would  tolerate  and  even  sanction  and  teach  in  the 
Church  of  Christ  what  Infidels  and  Atheists  and 
Skeptics  have  taught,  and  misguided  men  now 
teach.  Revive  the  days  of  loyalty  and  fidelity  to 
Jesus  Christ  and  His  Word,  and  let  tidal  waves 
of  soul-saving,  sanctifying  energy  sweep  through 
our  churches,  and  Thou  shalt  have  all  the  praise 
and  the  glory,  through  His  blessed  Name.  Amen ! 


ADDENDUM 

I  was  a  delegate  to  the  great  "Convention  of  Methodist  men," 
in  Indianapolis,  Oct.  28-31,  1913.  It  was  not  representative  of 
Methodism,  because  the  great  majority  of  the  2720  delegates 
were  from  within  a  radius  of  200  miles  of  the  place  of  meeting. 
Nearly  all  General  Conference  officials — editors,  agents,  secre- 
taries, etc.,  were  present.  The  program  was  cut  and  dried,  and 
in  the  hands  of  the  New  York  Machine.  There  was  no  open 
discussion;  and,  while  there  were  some  good  and  great  addresses, 
by  some  splendid  men,  the  chief  subject  of  address  was  concerning 
money,  with  not  a  little  about  "Social  Service,"  "civic  righteous- 


ADDENDUM  215 

ness,"  and  the  like.  Evangelism  did  have  a  small  place  on  the 
program;  but  what  was  said  on  the  subject  was  by  men  who 
had  little  or  no  experience  in  soul-saving  work,  and  no  one  was 
made  wiser  as  to  how  to  solve  our  problems. 

Dean  Birney,  of  Boston  University  School  of  Theology,  told  us 
the  world  would  not  be  saved  en  masse,  but  by  personal  evan- 
gelism. That  is,  old  time  Methodist  revivals  are  out  of  date  and 
not  to  be  encouraged  nor  expected. 

Mr.  Fred  Smith,  a  Secretary  of  the  International  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
Committee,  was  one  of  the  speakers. 

He  recalled  the  days  when  the  church  preached  "hell,"  recalled 
the  type  of  preacher  who  "just  raised  the  lid  off  until  you  could 
smell  it,"  and  the  preachers,  too,  who  held  out  heaven  hereafter 
as  the  reward  for  goodness  now. 

"You  can't  turn  the  hair  on  a  youth  in  this  country  to-day  by 
that  doctrine!"  he  emphatically  declared. 

And  these  utterances  were  applauded.  He  also  slammed  evan- 
gelists who  preached  against  dancing  and  worldliness.  Some  one 
announced  that  the  spring  conferences  reported  46,000  increase  to 
their  membership  the  past  year.  I  recalled  the  fact  that  more 
than  14,000  of  that  number  were  added  to  Churches  in  the  Foreign 
field ;  and,  but  for  the  work  of  evangelists  who  preach  hell,  heaven 
and  against  dancing,  and  have  revivals,  there  would  have  been 
no  increase  whatever  to  the  membership  of  those  conferences. 

The  spirit  of  much  of  the  praying  was  this — We  are  needy; 
We  want  help;  but,  we  want  it  our  way.  The  Bible  had  but 
little  place  in   all  the   Conference. 

The  whole  business  was  in  harmony  with  the  propaganda  that 
had  for  its  object  the  revolutionizing  of  Methodism. 


The  End. 


OTHER  WORKS  BY  DR.  MUNHALL 

The   Highest  Critics  vs.  The  Higher  Critics 

Ninth  Edition. 

"Packed  with  strong  statement,  apt  quotation  and  Scrip- 
tural references.  There  is  a  freshness  and  vigor  of  style 
which  betoken  the  ready  speaker.  There  is  an  adroitness 
and  a  directness  of  argument  which  indicate  one  accus- 
tomed to  the  use  of  his  tools  and  his  material.  As  a  devout 
tribute  to  the  Word  of  God,  this  book  of  this  efficient  evan- 
gelist is  admirable," — The  Christian  Advocate,  New  York. 
Cloth,  249  pp.,  $1.00,  Postpaid. 

The  Lord's  Return  and  Kindred  Truth 

Ninth  Edition. 
"Dr.  Munhall  writes  with  great  sobriety  and  much  more 
logic   than    many  writers   on   prophetical  Scriptures." — New 
York  Observer. 

"It  is  certainly  an  able  presentation." — The  Interior. 
"We  know  of  no  work  better  suited  to  place  in  the  hands 
of  one  who  has  not  made  up  his  mind  upon  this  most  im- 
portant topic." — Episcopal  Recorder. 

Cloth,  224  pp.,  $1.00,  Postpaid. 

The  Convert  and  His  Relations 

Third  Edition. 
"He  dwells  particularly  on  the  young  convert's  relations 
to  Christ  in  four  chapters ;  to  the  Holy  Spirit  in  three  chap- 
ters ;  his  relations  to  the  Church,  the  Bible,  the  world,  two 
chapters ;  to  the  work  and  to  the  future.  There  is  no  cant 
in  the  book,  no  cheapening  of  religious  responsibility  and 
demand,  and  no  softening  down  to  the  world,  and  no  satis- 
fledness  with  anything  short  of  a  personal  attachment  to 
Christ  and  a  thorough  devotion  of  the  whole  life  to  His 
service.  Such  a  book  braces  one  up.  It  can  be  given  to 
almost  any  sort  of  a  Christian,  with  a  comforting  expecta- 
tion that  it  will  do  him  good.  It  has  Bible  in  it,  and  good 
human  sense  and  backbone.  Indeed,  it  reminds  one  of  the 
sound  Gospel  evangelist,  Dr.  Munhall  himself,  for  whom, 
though  a  personal  stranger,  we  have  very  high  respect." — 
Christian  intelligencer. 

Cloth,  208  pp.,  $1.00,  Postpaid. 

FURNISHING  FOR  WORKERS 

BY    L.    W.    HDNHALL,    M.A.,   D.D. 

Nearly  120,000  of  these  have  been  sold. 
A   prominent  lawyer  said  of  it: — "I  would  not   take  five 
hundred  dollars  for  the  copy  I  have,  if  I  could  not  get  an- 
other." 

"Just  the  book  to  carry  in  the  pocket,  giving  at  a  bird's- 
eye  glance  the  passages  of  Scripture  needed  to  meet  an  al- 
most endless  series  of  questions,  objections,  etc.,  which  we 
constantly   hear." — Book  Record,  New   York. 

Leather,  118  pp.,  25  Cents,  Postpaid. 

For  Sale  by  Charles  C.  Cook,  150  Nassau  St.,  New  York 


BK 

m 


THE  LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

Santa  Barbara 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW. 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


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